2026 Safe & Stable Homes Investment Areas
July 6, 2026
We can’t always change the reasons for family homelessness, but we can change the way our system responds to these reasons. Ending family homelessness is about changing the way our systems respond when a family is faced with losing their home.
When a family finds a home, a future begins.
United Way’s Safe & Stable Homes is committed in creating a community where homelessness is brief and rare, and families have the resources they need to overcome unforeseen challenges. At the end of 2025, we met our goal of ending family homelessness in our four-county footprint. While we celebrate our achievement, we recognize that sustaining positive outcomes requires ongoing support. Challenges persist, and there is more work to be done to ensure every family has a safe and stable home.
In 2026-27, we are investing in programs committed to ensuring that family homelessness is prevented whenever possible, or if it can’t be prevented, it is a brief and one-time experience.
meet the organizations selected for 2026-27 investments:
Adullam Outreach
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Adullam's Family Warming Center serves as a short-term winter warming site and stabilization resource where families receive meals, case management, and supportive services that prevent prolonged homelessness. Families identified by Adullam in the non-winter months will have access to homelessness prevention & diversion resources such as small emergency stipends, rental assistance, and conflict mediation.
Advocates of Ozaukee, Inc.
County Served: Ozaukee
Aligned Work: Advocates of Ozaukee provides an array of shelter and housing support through their homelessness prevention and crisis related services for families experiencing domestic violence and/or sexual assault in Ozaukee County. This includes a 24/7 hotline, emergency shelter, flexible financial assistance, and re-housing assistance.
Asha Family Services
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Asha Family Services combines flexible financial assistance with wraparound supportive services for families impacted by domestic and intimate partner violence in Milwaukee County. The goal of the financial assistance is to prevent a family from entering the shelter system, and can include assistance to prevent evictions, reduce rental arrears, support security deposits, address utility shutoffs, and assist with safe relocation when necessary.
Cathedral Center, inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Cathedral Center is an emergency shelter, located in downtown Milwaukee for unaccompanied women and eight families each night. Case management and supportive services provide employment support and services geared toward children and youth while in shelter.
Center for Veteran's Issues
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Center for Veteran's Issues' Veterans Gardens program provides an array of shelter and housing support with wraparound services for homeless and disabled veterans and their families. These include housing, job training, case management, substance abuse treatment, mental health care, transportation and life skills training.
Centro Legal Por Derechos Humanos Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Centro Legal Por Derechos Humanos provides legal assistance for families escaping domestic abuse. They aim to establish final court orders for custody, placement, child support, and finances to help stabilize the housing and income needs of parents and children leaving abusive situations.
Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin provides homeless system infrastructure and housing navigation for families with school-aged children in Waukesha County who are at risk of homelessness. Their programs provide wraparound supportive services, financial assistance, and landlord mediation to stabilize families in their homes while keeping children in their schools.
Community Advocates, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Community Advocates provides shelter and housing support through a 24/7 Emergency Shelter for families in Milwaukee County. Their program includes trauma-informed case management focused on rapid stabilization and services that allow families to remain safely housed while addressing the underlying causes of their housing crisis. Families in shelter are connected to income support, benefits enrollment, employment resources, and budget assistance to reduce the risk of future housing instability.
Community Advocates provides flexible financial assistance through the Housing Stability Fund. The Fund provides targeted, time-limited assistance that resolves housing crises before families enter emergency shelter or experience homelessness. The Fund prioritizes early intervention and rapid stabilization for families at imminent risk of eviction, utility shutoff, or housing loss due to temporary economic hardship to intervene before a crisis escalates.
Family Promise of Ozaukee County
Counties Served: Ozaukee and Washington
Aligned Work: Family Promise of Ozaukee County provides flexible financial assistance through the Family Homeless Prevention program. This program provides financial assistance and wrap-around supportive services to families in Ozaukee and Washington Counties that are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness. The strategy of the program is to assist families with not only housing, but to connect them with community resources that will stabilize their housing situations.
Family Promise of Waukesha County
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Family Promise of Waukesha County provides flexible financial assistance through the Family Homelessness Prevention program. This program serves families with minor children in Waukesha County with income under 80% of the area median income. They provide up to three (six if the parent has a health issue) months of rent, mortgage, utilities, car repairs, security deposits and first month rent, along with case management.
FRIENDS, Inc.
County Served: Washington
Aligned Work: FRIENDS, Inc has a 24/7 emergency shelter for individuals and families fleeing domestic or sexual violence, serving Washington County, but can include residents from surrounding counties like Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Ozaukee Counties if the distance is needed for safety reasons. While in shelter, residents receive safe housing, food, personal care items, transportation assistance, and individualized case management that includes access to public benefits and income stability, resolving safety concerns, developing a sustainable housing plan, and post-shelter follow-up.
FRIENDS, Inc provides flexible financial assistance to survivors fleeing domestic violence who often face sudden income disruption, safety relocation costs, or financial abuse that jeopardizes their ability to remain housed. This assistance prevents eviction filings, reduces dues, and supports safe relocation when necessary.
Guest House of Milwaukee, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Guest House of Milwaukee has an array of shelter and housing programs. Shelter programs include an emergency shelter, Pathways to Permanent Housing, a Veterans’ Dorm, Community Cots, and a Winter Warming shelter. Housing programs include a rapid re-housing program and a homeless prevention program.
Hebron Housing Services
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Hebron Housing Services provides an array of shelter and housing support through their Juno House Family Shelter, which provides emergency shelter and stabilization services for parents and children; Sentry and Siena House shelter, which serves adults facing homelessness; and Housing Support Services, which facilitate rapid re-housing and sustained stability. Each family works closely with a case manager who helps with personalized housing plans, employment readiness support, financial literacy coaching, and access to partner resources such as childcare, parenting classes, and behavioral health care.
Hebron Housing Services provides wraparound supportive services as Waukesha County’s Coordinated Entry (CE) Lead and an active member of the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care (WIBOS), Hebron ensures that all households experiencing homelessness have equitable access to housing interventions based on need and vulnerability.
Hope House of Milwaukee
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Hope House of Milwaukee’s Family Bonds Program provides immediate shelter and transitional housing support for families experiencing homelessness. This offers a single coordinated program that gets families off the streets immediately by housing them in Hope House's onsite shelter while simultaneously working to secure permanent housing. Family Bonds clients receive rental support and case management for up to two years to help families reach and maintain independence.
Hope House of Milwaukee provides up to 12 months of tiered flexible financial support and case management for families exiting shelter or at imminent risk of homelessness. 55% of this grant is an expansion of this program through the Bezos Day One Family Fund for a "Functional Zero Family Flex Fund."
La Causa, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: La Causa, Inc provides wraparound supportive services through their 24-hour Crisis Nursery which offers free, short-term childcare for children aged from birth to 12. Children can stay for up to 72 hours during a crisis, up to 24 hours for respite and a few hours as needed for appointments and treatment. This investment will ensure that when a family is facing homelessness, there is a place for their children where all their needs are met while parents focus on finding shelter, a new place to stay, and the resources available to help them.
Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc.
Counties Served: Milwaukee and Waukesha
Aligned Work: Legal Action of Wisconsin’s Eviction Defense Project (EDP) provides free, same-day legal representation to tenants facing eviction, helping them remain safely housed and avoid the disruptive, costly consequences of displacement. EDP attorneys and volunteers appear in court at least three days per week to represent tenants at the critical “return-date” hearing, negotiate agreements with landlords, and secure dismissals or sealed records.
Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Inc.
Counties Served: Milwaukee and Waukesha
Aligned Work: Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee’s Eviction Free MKE program provides full legal representation to prevent eviction and homelessness for families in Milwaukee County courts. It provides for a dignified exit strategy with additional time to move when there are no legal defenses. Additionally, this program hosts a monthly sealing clinic, security deposit and abatement focused work, drop-in clinics, and educational seminars for residents at neighborhood sites.
Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee’s Eviction Free 2.0 program provides full legal representation to prevent eviction and homelessness for families in Waukesha County courts. This program also provides adjacent housing security services around sealing eviction records, security deposit returns, and abatement focused work as appropriate, in addition to educational housing seminars through burgeoning opportunities with Waukesha partners as those arise.
Mercy Housing Lakefront
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Mercy Housing Lakefront (MHL) provides affordable housing for families and individuals who are exiting homelessness, coming from shelters, and/or experiencing housing instability. MHL develops and manages high quality, affordable housing that is energy efficient and aligned with community development efforts to ensure that residents have access to public transportation, community services, employment opportunities, and more, while the affordable housing development helps catalyze additional investment in the community. In addition to providing affordable housing, MHL provides an array of onsite social services for residents that help people who have experienced homelessness and/or housing instability gain the skills and support they need to stabilize and improve health, education, and financial capacity building.
Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: In 2025, the Milwaukee Justice Center acquired Mediate Milwaukee’s pre-filing mediation project to expand its offerings even more, creating a “one-stop shop” for landlords and tenants to receive resources and mediation options at any point in a disagreement. This program provides free pre- and post-filing mediation for eviction cases in-person and remotely, creating a less expensive, more approachable space for landlords and tenants to resolve their disputes outside of the court system. Mediation not only prevents evictions and solves disputes happening now, but it also prevents future disputes by empowering tenants and landlords to resolve disputes thoughtfully and develop practical, mutually beneficial solutions.
Milwaukee County Housing Services
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Milwaukee County Housing Services provides wraparound services through a staff person that meets families where they are to assess their needs as part of the Coordinated Entry system. This "family mobile screener" has access to flexible financial funds to get families back into a safe living environment quickly, preventing or diverting families from needing to enter the emergency shelter system.
Milwaukee Women's Center, Inc., The
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: The Milwaukee Women’s Center (MWC) is a 24/7 emergency shelter in a confidential location that stabilizes families in crisis, and supports safe, sustainable housing outcomes for survivors of domestic violence and their children. MWC’s emergency shelter provides an immediate, trauma-informed response that prevents unsheltered homelessness and establishes a foundation for long-term stability.
My Way Out, Inc.
Counties Served: Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha
Aligned Work: My Way Out provides coordinated housing placement and wraparound support services for justice-impacted participants with children returning to their families from incarceration. Wraparound supportive services include case management, life coaching, transportation assistance, and emergency household needs such as stoves, refrigerators, or furniture when participants transition into new units. Each participant receives individualized support that connects them to employment opportunities, mental health services, and community networks.
Pathfinders
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Pathfinders’ Youth Shelter provides 24/7/365 safe shelter and supportive services that ensure youth ages 11-17 avoid unsheltered homelessness while supporting the family systems connected to them. By offering shelter to youth and comprehensive supportive services to both teens and their families, they help prevent adolescent housing crises, runaway episodes, and family conflict from becoming unsheltered or prolonged homelessness. These coordinated shelter and wraparound services strengthen longer-term housing stability and prevent teens from carrying the long-term negative effects of unsheltered homelessness into adulthood.
Pathfinders utilize flexible financial assistance to provide rapid, targeted funding for core rent, utility, and security deposit expenses that enable young adults aged 17-25 and their families to avoid or quickly exit homelessness in quality master-leased units that match their household needs. Financial assistance will be complemented by housing navigation through dedicated Housing Specialists who expand low-barrier housing options and prevent housing loss for youth despite limited rental histories or other challenges.
Rooted & Rising
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Rooted & Rising’s supportive housing program provides stable, permanent housing options with wraparound services that ensure families will not experience unsheltered homelessness for an extended time. A housing team consistently monitors each household’s progress and well-being indicators, offering crisis mitigation and intervention to help solve any personal challenges that can lead to the loss of stable housing. This personalized, resident-centered approach helps families achieve stability faster, improve their quality of life, and build stronger connections.
Salvation Army — Milwaukee County, the
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Salvation Army-Wisconsin & Upper Michigan is a 24-hour homeless shelter in Milwaukee County that serves unaccompanied men and women, and families with children. Families are served by a team of case managers, a children’s program director, and a children’s program assistant, who work together to meet the distinct needs of both adults and children in families experiencing homelessness. Adults work with their case managers to set goals for the family, including stable, permanent housing.
Salvation Army — Waukesha County, The
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: The Salvation Army-Waukesha County utilizes flexible financial assistance to provide rent and utility assistance to homeless families and families at risk of homelessness in Waukesha County. Immediate financial assistance is paired with individualized case management, parental resilience and skill-building opportunities, and provides coordinated referrals that address the drivers of housing insecurity.
Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Waukesha
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Waukesha provides immediate safety during extreme weather for Waukesha families by utilizing local motels when traditional shelter space is full or unavailable. With limited family shelter capacity in Waukesha County, this program ensures that children and parents are not left without safe options during dangerous winter conditions or other emergencies. Emergency shelter is paired with housing counseling and diversion services provided by St. Vincent de Paul staff, including connection to family or community supports, budgeting guidance, and referrals to employment and benefit resources.
Sojourner Family Peace Center, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Sojourner Family Peace Center provides emergency shelter and integrated 24-hour hotline/text-based support, including housing-focused advocacy and navigation activities that shorten shelter stays and increase exits to stable destinations, while also connecting survivors, at their request, to ongoing advocacy and partner-based supports that strengthen homelessness prevention, promote healing, and build independence beyond a client’s stay at Sojourner’s shelter.
Sojourner Family Peace Center utilizes flexible funding to provide one-time or short-term assistance such as rent, utilities, security deposits, transportation, car repair, or other urgent needs when immediate financial stabilization can prevent eviction, support safe relocation, or secure new housing. Each disbursement is paired with individualized case management and/or advocacy, ensuring households are not only stabilized in the moment but also connected to longer-term support (e.g., benefits access, legal protections, and housing navigation) that strengthen housing retention and reduce recurrence.
United Community Center, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: United Community Center provides household budget support and financial counseling through their free, bilingual HUD-certified First-Time Homebuyers Program seminars and 1:1 pre/post-purchase & budget/credit counseling for low-income families. This program allows families to buy their first home, improve their credit, and be educated about the homeownership process. By assisting in purchasing a home with a price and mortgage payment they can afford, this program works to prevent delinquency and foreclosure.
Walker's Point Youth & Family Center, Inc.
County Served: Milwaukee
Aligned Work: Walker’s Point Youth & Family Center provides temporary emergency shelter, transitional housing, 24/7 crisis line, counseling and other supportive services for runaway and homeless youth and their families. The shelter is licensed as a group home to house up to eight youth, under the age of 18, of any gender orientation, up to 21 days. Transitional Housing serves young adults ages 18- 24 who are single or parenting, providing up to two years of stable housing and an intensive range of supportive services.
Wisconsin Veteran's Network, Inc. (VetsNet)
Counties Served: Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha
Aligned Work: VetsNet provides emergency financial assistance for veterans in Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee counties to avoid homelessness, including rent/mortgage assistance, utilities assistance, appliance replacement, handicapped accommodations, gas cards, bus passes, supermarket gift cards and other crisis situations.
Women's Center, Inc., The
County Served: Waukesha
Aligned Work: The Women’s Center (TWC) provides safe, stable housing and comprehensive support to families fleeing domestic and sexual violence in Waukesha County. Their 24/7 Emergency Shelter serves adults and their children with immediate safety, food, clothing, transportation, and translation access. Survivors receive case management, support developing life skills, plus advocacy and referrals to address legal, medical, education, financial, and employment needs.
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