Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Winter Renter Tips

The Madison-based Tenant Resource Center produced a guide for renters on cold weather requirements. The guide uses local municipal code and state regulations to describe the responsibilities concerning heating requirements in winter months as well as state the requirements for snow and ice removal. Access the guide here.

Is this type of handout something that is important for the Winnebagoland Housing Coalition to create and distribute?

February 2011 agenda

To access the agenda for the upcoming February meeting, click here:
February 2011 agenda

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Oshkosh Point In Time Count

Next Wednesday evening begins the January 2011 Point In Time (PIT) count. Additional information about PIT is provided below, as well as a link to the actual program guide.

The Oshkosh effort is in need of volunteers to sign up for 3 hour shifts, including 9pm - 12am; 12am - 3am; and 3am - 6am. Volunteers go out in groups of 3-4 to identify possible homeless folks in our community. If this is something you are interested and able to participate in, please contact Patty with ADVOCAP at 920-922-7760, ext. 3519.

About Point In Time (from the WI PIT Manual):

Point-In-Time (PIT)is a statistically reliable, unduplicated count of people experiencing homelessness during a designated one-night period, two times per year. This count is intended to included persons that are homeless and are living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, domestic violence shelters, or who are unsheltered living on the streets or any other place not mean for human habitation.

A PIT is intended to capture a minimum amount of information on the homeless population in order to create a “snapshot” of what homelessness looks like in a neighborhood, city, or state. The data collected through the Point-in-Time process is reported in the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) that is provided to the U.S. Congress. Homeless information is also reported to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, and is utilized to develop the Housing Inventory Chart for the Balance of State CoC.

Access the PIT Guide HERE.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Free Tax Help Available!

Need help filing your income tax return? Once again this year, volunteers will be available for those who need help preparing their taxes. Thanks, to many caring volunteers, FREE tax assistance with electronic filing will be available to low to moderate-income tax payers (making under $58,000) and for Senior Citizens. The tax services will be available on Thursday and Friday afternoons, and Saturday mornings starting February 3rd and continue through April 15th.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will be held at the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry each Saturday and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) will take place at the Oshkosh Seniors Center Thursdays and Fridays.

To make an appointment, please call the Tax Assistance Appointment Line at 651-3060 or 235-8560. Beginning January 3rd, the Tax Assistance Appointment Line, a service of the Oshkosh Area United Way, will be staffed Monday – Friday from 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM. Afterhours, individuals may leave a message and a tax scheduler will return your call.

Last year, more than 1,530 appointments were handled between the two sites. Does this program make a difference? Definitely! For example, volunteers at the Oshkosh VITA project processed 282 returns. In dollars, total refunds processed by VITA volunteers were $366,650 of which $71,535 (20%) were Earned Income Tax Credits. This is significant as some tax payers do not realize they qualified for EITC and therefore do not claim this credit. Because of this tax service, volunteers helped clients claim all the credits they were entitled to, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Homestead Credit, and Education Credit. Also, this FREE service saved tax payers more than $56,000 in tax filing fees!

Remember to make an appointment contact the Oshkosh Area United Way Tax Assistance Appointment Line at 651-3060 or 235-8560 to make an appointment. Volunteers are also needed so to volunteer, contact Sue Panek at 235-8560.