OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Missing a rent payment for some can be the difference between stability and homelessness. That's why a pilot homeless prevention program in Winnebago County offers immediate assistance to families in need. Since it's inception, over 100 families have been saved from homelessness.
- The Winnebago County Emergency Assistance Collaborative brings together leaders from several local organizations to provide comprehensive and immediate assistance to those in need.
- The program was created to help prevent homelessness, but they also help families already experiencing homelessness.
- The program helped Pam Sutfin and her daughter, ShyAnne Blair, find permanent housing after being homeless for four months.
Pam Sutfin, her grandson and her daughter ShyAnne became homeless after their landlord in Waukesha refused to resign their lease.
"Apartments are hard to get," Sutfin says. "You have to pay a deposit, an application fee, and if you pay enough application fees, you're broke, and then you can't move in. So it was really hard for us to find a place."
They were homeless for four months, sleeping in their car and motels.
"I was ready to go nuts, it was really hard," Sutfin says.
In December of last year, their luck changed. They were able to connect with Sara Kosmicki, the executive director of Casa Esther Catholic Worker House and a member of the Winnebago County Emergency Assistance Collaborative.
"Sara did so much for us," Sutfin says.
The Emergency Assistance Collaborative is a pilot program in the county connecting leaders from six homeless prevention organizations: Winnebago County HELP Program, LEAVEN, ADVOCAP, Casa Esther, Community Benefit Tree, and the Salvation Army of Oshkosh.
"No single one of our agencies can handle all of the housing insecurity needs that’s in Winnebago County," Kosmicki says.
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The collaborative helps people in need find the appropriate resources immediately, whether it's rent assistance, landlord negotiation or support resources.
"All of us come together to set aside our egos and our missions and just help people," Nikki Gerhard, executive director of LEAVEN, says.
Since the program's inception in July 2024, they've helped over 100 families stay off the streets.
“Trying to keep families as stable as we can in the homes that they’re currently in," Sara Brown, Winnebago County HELP program supervisor, says.
Blair and Sutfin says their lives were changed for the better because of the collaborative.
"I was very very happy because I didn’t have to worry about where we were going to sleep that night or the next," Blair says. "I would just like to thank them from the bottom of my heart, like they helped us so much. It makes my heart fill up with joy because they helped us.”
The program's fiscal sponsor is United Way, so donations made through them can benefit the initiative.
