The current housing market makes it challenging for someone who’s homeless to find an affordable place to live.
The Northwoods Alliance for Temporary Housing and Frederick Place is raising money to support those who need a place to stay, and they’re doing it in a creative way.
Frederick Place is a temporary emergency homeless shelter that provides safe housing for people experiencing homelessness.
This year, it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary, but because of COVID-19, staff decided to cancel the biggest fundraiser of the year – the annual anniversary benefit.
Instead, they’re trying something new.
If you donate $25 and submit a picture of your house, one of a number of volunteers will create an artistic rendition of your home.
But there’s a catch.
While some of the volunteers are talented local artists, like Tom Barnett of Tom’s Drawing Board in Rhinelander, some are not.
“Some of us are not artists by trade, so it is a bit of a risk,” Tammy Modic, the organization’s executive director said. “This is just a fun way for us to earn some money.”
It costs $50 a day for someone to call Frederick Place home.
Modic said while an eviction moratorium prevented a large spike in homelessness during the pandemic, some of the people who are homeless are struggling to find places to live.
“We found that for our residents during COVID, that reduced the number of affordable homes and apartments available to them,” she said. “So our length of stay has drastically increased.”
Modic said money earned from the Poorly Drawn Houses fundraiser will support the operations of Frederick Place.
