This story was produced and originally published by Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom.
An estimated 1,200 people are homeless in northeast Wisconsin — and that could be a vast undercount. Nonprofit leaders say shelters are at capacity on a regular basis and a lack of affordable housing is contributing to the problem.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, someone would have to work 112 hours per week at minimum wage to afford a modest 1-bedroom rental home in Wisconsin. Amid rising costs, Jackie Baumgart, director of youth services for Foundations Health & Wholeness, says rural counties Foundations serves have few homeless shelters…