A story. Let's call him Ben.
Ben is in his mid-20s and he became homeless for the first time in January 2023. He had been staying in a hotel. He had income and a savings account. Ben's circumstances began to change.
Too embarrassed to reach out for help to his family and local service providers, he found a place “off the grid” to pitch a tent. Ben was a former Boy Scout so he used those skills to survive outside. When we met him, he was visibly shaking due to his anxiety. He said used alcohol sometimes because, he was "so scared all of the time."
Ben was willing to work with those who could help him. As long as they would come to him. He was afraid of losing his stuff if he left his spot.
Ben eventually got connected with other people who were homeless. He told us that these people were the only ones he felt wouldn’t judge him.
A week after we met him for the first time, his camp was cleared out and he had to move. He had created a plan with the outreach team about how to apply for housing and other services on our first visit, but we couldn’t find him after he moved from his spot. We did find him about a month later and we were able to help him apply for housing.
Even five months later, Ben is still working on finding a home due to the lack of housing in our community.
Ben's story is all too familiar in La Crosse.
"We want La Crosse to remember that these are our neighbors and people who are from our community that we are trying to help," said City of La Crosse Homeless Services Coordinator Brian Sampson.