Mission and Vision

Long Range Plan to Reduce Homelessness
in Milwaukee County for 2000 To 2004

III. Mission and Vision

At its first meeting, the LRPC adopted a mission statement to guide its activities over the course of the six-month planning period:

MISSION: To create a three to five-year vision and plan for supporting homeless individuals and families to move into permanent housing on a self-sustaining basis for the long term.

Over the course of its first several meetings, the LRPC developed a vision that would serve as a guide to more effectively meet the needs of homeless individuals and families over the course of the next five years.

Homelessness in America is a very complex issue. There are many global as well as local factors affecting who becomes homeless and how many homeless persons there are at any point in time. Economic factors play a significant role in the levels of homelessness. The world and national economies impact on the number of jobs and levels of unemployment. Even when global and national economic conditions are favorable, local economies can be affected negatively by local corporate downsizing or other local conditions. Other factors affecting the levels of homelessness are myriad and include a range of things such as the availability of affordable housing, broad changes in welfare (e.g., W-2), natural disasters, to name a few. Even though local communities do not have much control over many of the factors leading to homelessness, the LRPC has a vision for preventing and reducing homelessness for the Milwaukee area:

VISION: The Milwaukee community seeks to significantly reduce homelessness in its midst by 2004 through a combination of collaborative, preventive and remedial strategies designed to 1) eliminate causes of homelessness and 2) move all individuals and families experiencing homelessness into safe, affordable, permanent housing on a self-sustaining basis.

In trying to achieve this vision, the LRPC will strive to promote the following goals:

¨ Create a broader community awareness of and responsibility for homelessness.

¨ Maximize resources available in the community for services to prevent and remedy homelessness.

¨ Move people from homelessness to permanent housing by better coordinating existing services and eliminating waiting lists.

¨ Improve the quality of data collection on who are being served and on the services they are receiving for use in decision-making.

¨ Develop better ways for consumer participation in homeless services planning and policy development.