SERVING THOSE WHO
SERVED US

FRANCESCA HONG’S PLAN
FOR VETERANS

FRANCESCA HONG’S PLAN FOR VETERANS

Wisconsin is home to more than 300,000 veterans. We have the duty and honor to support those who have sacrificed so much for us. But our state’s ecosystem of veteran support services is severely underfunded, and its fragmentation across federal, state, and nonprofit organizations means too many veterans fall through the cracks of a haphazardly constructed system. We must do better for those who served.

As governor, Fran will:

Effectively end veteran homelessness by ensuring that enough resources and support services exist across the state to assist individuals or families experiencing homelessness in securing stable housing.
Expand the range of state-provided benefits to address veterans’ unmet needs, especially in healthcare.
Use every tool at the state’s disposal to make sure that veterans can actually receive the federal and state benefits they’ve earned and smooth their transition to civilian life.

End veteran homelessness

Declare ending veteran homelessness a cabinet-level priority

Fran believes that ending veteran homelessness should be a cabinet-level priority. That means reorganizing programs that already exist — developing more active veteran outreach programs, facilitating cross-agency coordination, and giving program officers authority to help veterans with housing costs — with one explicit goal: zero homeless veterans. It also means patching gaps in veteran support infrastructure:

Restoring the Veterans Housing and Recovery program and reopening facilities closed by a Republican-induced program budget deficit,
Creating funds to incentivize landlords to provide veteran housing, like a state-administered program to provide security deposit guarantees and risk mitigation payments,
Supporting a capital grant and establishing rapid processing for support service providers, making it easier to apply for and receive financing for constructing veteran-supportive housing.

Where services exist in Wisconsin, they’re often uncoordinated or full of gaps. Some states have comprehensive veteran support and outreach agencies – something we should bring to Wisconsin. By consolidating and streamlining our veteran benefit services, we can:

Build a more active outreach program around street work to veterans who are chronically homeless.
Create more flexible housing assistance funds to deal with on-the-ground realities of being an unhoused or precariously housed veteran.
Create formal cross-agency coordination mandates.
Build real-time data systems so we know how far we have to go and who needs help.

Invest in veteran benefits

Expand state services

State services for veterans exist, but they’re disparate, paltry, and hard to bridge together. Funding veteran benefits requires empowering the workers who help veterans receive them to make important decisions with less hassle. Fran will simplify and expand the Veterans Assistance Grant program, raising the annual limit from $3,000 to $5,000, and create “fast track” eligibility determination for veterans at risk of eviction or utility shutoff.

Make veteran mental health support paramount

Mental health shapes a person’s entire life, and veteran mental health needs can’t be placed in a single category. The Veterans Outreach and Recovery Program supports veterans with substance use or mental health issues through wraparound services, from housing support, employment mentoring, and direct substance use care. Fran supports legislation bolstering the program and hiring more workers to serve veterans.

Cut the knots in healthcare assistance

Veterans are put on a strict timer and need to jump through unnecessary hoops to receive healthcare assistance. Currently, veterans must apply for all other sources of coverage before qualifying for the state healthcare assistance program, and it doesn’t cover costs if invoices arrive more than two months after an arbitrary benefit date. As governor, Fran will direct the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to adjust its healthcare aid program to make it easier to apply for and receive aid—extending the invoice window, allowing retroactive extensions, and notifying veterans whose benefit windows are expiring.

Smooth the transition to civilian life

Invest in retraining

Wisconsin provides retraining grants for veterans who find themselves un- or under-employed to help them land jobs in high-demand civilian careers. Fran will double the existing grant ceiling and extend grant durations.

Improve benefit navigation

Wisconsin has all the tools required to make life easier for veterans; they’re just not organized well. By consolidating and streamlining our veteran benefit services, we can better:

Assess gaps in county veterans service funding, propose minimum staffing ratios, and create support for state training and certification.
Create a Veterans Benefits Navigator program (like Illinois’s Warrior Assistance Program) that embeds state-funded veterans’ outreach workers in community settings–which especially helps veterans who don’t self-identify in service settings.
Create a state-funded veteran legal services program to fund legal aid organizations to support veterans seeking discharge upgrades, complementing current legal services aid efforts within the Veterans Administration.

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