Housing Challenges in Menomonie

In 2024, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported 18.1 per cent increase in the number of homeless people in the U.S. Housing has become a national problem – and Menomonie is part of that picture.

A group of concerned citizens from a non-profit local group called GROWW (Grass Roots Organization Western Wisconsin) has been working to draw attention to Menomonie’s housing problem. GROWW favors more grass-roots local control and citizen involvement.

GROWW Organizing Director Bill Hogseth said 3 years ago they began what they call deep canvassing, knocking on all sorts of doors just asking what was keeping people up at night in western Wisconsin. He said housing problems, particularly in the Menomonie area, were blamed.

Increasing rental prices force people into substandard situations, he said, and local housing options are limited. “We all need a roof over our head,” said Hogseth.

GROWW took on this challenge during the summer of 2024, conducting several listening sessions, and knocking on Menomonie doors.

Hogseth said when it comes to accessibility, Menomonie has very little to offer that can safely house someone with a disability. Anyone with a mistake on their record can expect to be turned away from a rental. “We’ve done the work of listening,” said Hogseth.” This is a problem that cuts deep and painfully in peoples’ lives. They live in a society where no one listens to them.”

He explained that with rentals they found substandard conditions and long-deferred repairs are common, especially where landlords are corporations, not local people. They heard complaints about mold, broken steps and windows and one renter told them, “Housing isn’t for people any more – it’s for corporations, driving up rent, getting rich, pushing people out.”

Menomonie used to conduct annual rental inspections, but state law changed in 2018 with ACT 317, said Hogseth, and now an inspection must be requested, either by the landlord or the tenant – tenants who complain fear eviction.

Hogseth asks, “What kind of community do we live in, where people can’t find a safe healthy place to live?”

For someone who has no home, couch-surfing is only a temporary measure, and there is the shame. As one person expressed it who preferred not to be named: “I was hiding my circumstances from everyone. I had been making do as long as I could, and it’s very embarrassing.”

Another local group dealing with housing is Stepping Stones of Dunn County. Shelter manager, Heidi Hooten says their new 20-bed Cairn House homeless shelter provided 6,281 shelter nights in 2024, more than past years. Including their 2 other shelters, plus some hotel- and motel-stays, 2024 shelter nights totaled 10,629 – and Hooten said they still had a waiting list. And, she added, waiting lists are normal for senior citizen housing, and low-income family housing as well.

Ellen Ochs is a Menomonie resident and active in the community

This article is republished with permission from Menomonie News Net.

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