“The system pays for inputs, not outcomes”
$7.7 BILLION — that’s how much compensation grew at America’s homeless NGOs from 2013 to 2024, while homelessness rose to a record 771,480.
Advocates argue that ending homelessness requires more federal funding, citing rising rents and a workforce they characterize as “woefully underpaid.”1The National Alliance to End Homelessness’s 2023 report “New Estimates Suggest that $4.8 Billion Is Needed to Bring Homeless Services Salaries into the Modern Era” advocated for an additional $9.6 billion in federal appropriations supporting the Continuum of Care Program, including $4.8 billion specifically to raise homeless service worker salaries.2
An examination of a balanced panel of 1,458 nonprofit Continuum of Care (CoC) providers shows that program budgets for compensation have increased significantly. Reported financials in both 2013 and 2024 show total compensation grew 117.8 percent and total revenue grew 123.9 percent, dramatically outpacing the 34.7 percent cumulative inflation rate and the 30.7 percent growth in the national Point-in-Time (PIT) homelessness count.3
Growth in the homelessness sector was not concentrated in a few outliers: 84 percent of providers grew compensation faster than inflation, 54 percent more than doubled it, and 29 percent more than tripled it.4 Provider compensation also grew roughly 2.7 times faster than the broader nonprofit sector benchmark on an annualized basis.5 The problem is not how money flows into the CoC system, as the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s report suggests. The problem is that the system pays for inputs (beds, salaries, services delivered) rather than for outcomes (people exiting homelessness for unsubsidized housing, employment, and treatment success). Compensation tracks revenue at a stable 36–39 percent of total income across the period, meaning the entire industry has grown together while measured outcomes have not moved.6
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2025-2026 Madison 4k-3rd grade Early Literacy Screener report: The bar moves faster than the kids.
Joe Gothard, Becky Kundert and Sonia Spencer Remarks on Madison’s K-12 Literacy Crisis.
2026-2027 Madison K-12 $pending continues to grow, fueled by a 9.7% (!) property tax increase. Total spending will be at least $706,000,000 for 25,003 students, or $28,236 per student.
May 2026 Madison School District Presentation: 7,095 adults for 25,003 students (3.52 students per adult!)
2024-2025 Early Literacy Screener Map.
Map: Foundations of Reading Results: 2015–2024
Where have all the students gone?
3,887 Madison 4 year old to third grade students scored lower than 75% of the students in the national comparison group.
Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average k-12 tax & $pending. This despite our long term, disastrous reading results. May, 2026: 7,095 Staff for 25,003 students; $pending > $26k per student!
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic.
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?
