Occupy Madison

As Alder, I supported the creation of the original Occupy Madison village of tiny houses as sustainable, affordable housing.

Safe Housing for All

Larry supports the creation the safe, permanent housing for everyone in our community. 

Improve Homeless Facilities

Larry continues to support facilities including shelters, day shelters and bathrooms for our homeless population.

Affordable Housing & Homeless

Dane County must continue to support and fund the development of housing options such as  Rethke Terrace that I supported as Alder. We need to support our homeless with a true housing first approach that gets them into permanent sustainable housing right away. We need to eliminate veteran, chronic and family homelessness. Larry was a leader in trying to locate a downtown public restroom facility and expanding the  Metro Low Income bus pass program 

Other housing developments that I was part of as Alder include  Occupy Madison, Tennyson Ridge Apartments and Habitat for Humanity homes by Lake View Elementary.

We currently still need a new permanent emergency men’s homeless shelter and need to continue to support the creation of a new emergency women’s and family shelter. These facilities need to be located close to resources such as service agencies, places of employment and strong transit corridors to further reduce isolation and increase access.

We must strenuously oppose policies that criminalize poverty and homelessness. All too often the laws blame the victim – individuals who find themselves without housing. 

LGBTQ youth are also often more likely to experience homelessness – sometimes being rejected by their own families. According to a Voices of Youth Count report LGBT youth had a 120% increased risk of experiencing homelessness. Dane County has only  one youth shelter  , with a total of eight beds. 

Finally, Dane County needs to develop a Housing Plan that looks at the regional picture to ensure that communities are supporting the overall goals of providing everyone a clean, safe, affordable place to live.