Veterans housing in Green Bay. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The final servicemember moved out of Green Bay’s Veteran Housing and Recovery Program location Friday.
The facility provides temporary housing for military veterans experiencing homelessness.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of finger pointing across the aisle in Madison, as funding for VHRP facilities in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls runs out.
Republicans blame Governor Tony Evers and said the funds to save the facilities already exist.
“There was no fiscal reason to close it. There was no fiscal reason to stop contracting with Lutheran Social Services or doing any of the things to keep these places open,” State Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, said.
Wimberger serves on the Joint Finance Committee. He, along with five other Republican legislators, sent Evers a letter earlier this week, saying it’s possible for these veterans facilities to stay open. They say there’s $373 million in unspent COVID relief funds, as well as money in an administrative account, that could be allocated towards retaining all VHRP locations.
“He might not like the way that things are described in the appropriations, but they are within his parameters to use this. On top of that, he can still use the COVID money that he has authority over,” Wimberger said.
Evers requested $1.9 million in the 2025-27 state budget to save the Green Bay and Chippewa Falls veterans housing locations. The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee declined his request.
Evers denies the legislators’ claims about him already having funds available and choosing not to use them.
“The Joint Finance Committee received a document from the Fiscal Bureau during the budget and it said if you don’t do this — I think it’s $1.6 million or something like that — if you don’t do this, this is what’s going to happen. They didn’t do that and that’s exactly what happened,” Evers said.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin said blaming Evers is hypocritical, since the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee didn’t approve the funds.
“It is incredibly hard to take them seriously on this issue at this point, when they’ve been given every opportunity but seemingly are saying no to it, simply because it means they’d be working with the Democrats,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Communications Director Philip Shulman said.
The last veteran at the Green Bay home moved out Friday. The Chippewa Falls location closed a week earlier.
Many of the veterans have been dispersed either to the VHRP’s Union Grove location or other programs in Minnesota and Michigan.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said moving the vets is hard on them personally.
“These people stepped up and put their lives on the line for us, and now unfortunately, the Legislature won’t continue funding this program for them, so it’s sad,” Assistant Deputy Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Joey Hoey said.
The now closed VHRP locations could re-open if funds are re-allocated to the program.
In August, two separate bills proposed by state Democratic and Republican lawmakers introduced bills to keep the VHRP locations in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls open.
A bill written by Republican Senator Andre Jacque will have a public hearing next week in Madison. Another similar bill was co-authored by Democratic State Senators Jeff Smith and Jamie Wall.
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