Richard’s Place Threatened With Closure After Funding Changes

Waukesha, Wis. - A longstanding Waukesha organization that serves some of the city’s most vulnerable residents is threatened with closure, following a change in public funding rules that supported its operation.

Richard’s Place, which has provided supportive housing for homeless people with AIDS and HIV since 1998, might shut down its permanent housing by the end of July. Its transitional housing program, which assists individuals able to live on their own, will close this month.

“We are searching for financial support to keep the permanent housing open,” said Corrie Fulwiler, Executive Director of Richard’s Place. “These are residents unable to live in other circumstances. I don’t know where they will go if we have to close.”

Richard’s Place needs $100,000 to continue operations through 2019, she said.

Richard’s Place operates two homes under the auspices of the Waukesha Housing Authority. One is on Main Street, the other on White Rock Avenue. Each can house up to four residents.

The funding shortfall follows a change in how grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are dispersed. The Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care, a coalition of providers that serve the homeless population, has long filed collaborative grant applications with HUD.

In 2016, the WIBOSCOC created new rules governing how its members should admit new clients into their programs. The changes required members to contact individuals from a large general ranked list (prioritized according to individuals’ degrees of need) when they had openings.

However, not all on the list were eligible for specialty services provided by many organizations. The new rules required Richard’s Place, for example, to first contact many individuals who didn’t have AIDS or HIV, and weren’t eligible for its housing.

The stringent procedures took up valuable staff time for Richard’s Place, and often didn’t allow it to fill vacant spots at its homes on a timely basis. People with AIDS or HIV, who could have been served, usually could not be found when their names came up on the list.

“We get referrals from hospitals about HIV patients, and are unable to take them because they are ‘scored’ lower than others on the contact list,” Fulwiler said. “We’ve wasted huge amounts of resources seeking out people we know don’t qualify for our services.”

Richard’s Place appealed to the WIBOSCOC in 2017 for an exemption from the ranked list procedures. The WIBOSCOC responded by seeking to block funding for Richard’s Place, and ultimately removing the organization from its consolidated funding process in 2018.

HUD denied an appeal filed by Richard’s Place in February 2019. The federal agency gave notice that its transitional services grant would end April 30, and the remaining funding on July 31.

“This experience has been beyond frustrating,” Fulwiler said. “Worse, though, is knowing people are suffering whom we could have helped. Our organization might disappear after 21 years. The need for these services never will.”

Anyone interested in supporting Richard’s Place, or learning more about the organization, can call (262) 547-0640 or visit www.RichardsPlace.org.