Shelter & Housing

The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau arranged reduced rates at hotels across the Fox Valley and Oshkosh for residents displaced by the July 27 storms.

When you call, identify yourself as a resident of an evacuated area. That is what unlocks the emergency rate and priority assistance — it is not applied automatically and it is usually not bookable online.

Individual hotels, rates and current availability are listed separately below. Availability changes quickly; call before you drive.

The overnight shelter has moved. Winnebago County now lists overnight sheltering at:

Appleton North High School, 5000 N Ballard Rd, Appleton, WI 54913.

Christ the Rock Community Church is no longer the overnight shelter. It is still open as a cooling and charging site, but if you need somewhere to sleep, go to Appleton North instead. If someone told you Christ the Rock earlier in the week, they were right at the time — it changed.

Pets are not permitted — service animals only. If you have a pet, see the Pets & Animals section for boarding options before you come.

Bring if you can safely gather them: medications, ID and documents, and your phone plus a charger. Only minimal necessities are stocked on site.

If you are displaced and have nowhere to be before the 10 p.m. curfew, this is where to go.

The REALTORS Association of Northeast Wisconsin has secured up to $150,000 from the NAR Relief Foundation for people affected by the July 2026 storms.

This is a grant. You do not pay it back.

Up to $1,000, and what it covers depends on your situation:

• If you own your home — a mortgage payment
• If you rent — hotel costs, the costs of signing a new lease, and temporary housing payments to family or friends you have been staying with

That last one is worth reading twice. If you have been sleeping in a relative's spare room and giving them money toward it, that is an eligible expense. Most people assume it cannot be, and never ask.

You do not have to be buying or selling a house, and you do not need an estate agent. This is a disaster relief fund that happens to be administered by the REALTORS association.

How to apply

1. Fill in the application form (a fillable PDF)
2. Gather what the documentation checklist asks for
3. Send it in as directed on the form

If someone can personally attest to how the storm affected you, a third-party verification form is available and speeds up the review.

The fund is finite — $150,000 across everyone who applies. That is not a reason to panic, but it is a reason not to leave it until next month.

Pillars provides emergency shelter and helps people find safe, affordable housing. Winnebago County lists them for households displaced by the tornado.

920-734-9192 · 605 E Hancock Street, Appleton · PillarsInc.org

Why this is a different thing from the overnight shelter

Appleton North High School is a bed tonight. Pillars is the organisation that deals with the next question — where you go when a congregate shelter closes, and how you get into somewhere of your own with no deposit and a damaged rental history.

The county is unusually candid about the difficulty here, and it is worth repeating: the Fox Cities had a serious housing shortage before the tornado, and it has not improved. Nobody is going to place you in a flat next week. Getting into the queue early is most of what you can control.

You do not have to have been homeless before to call them. A large share of people displaced by a tornado have never needed a housing service in their lives, and that is not a reason to wait until things are worse.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul covers several of the gaps that are hardest to fill three weeks in.

• Gas cards and bus passes. If the problem is simply getting to work, to an appointment, or back to your own house to clear it
• Household goods, clothing and furniture from their thrift stores, given rather than sold, based on a conversation about what you need
• A food and hygiene pantry at the Neenah/Menasha location

You can apply online, for either location, using their Financial Assistance Request Form — and the form exists in Spanish (Formulario de Solicitud de Ayuda Financiera).

Neenah/Menasha — 920-727-1766 · SVDPNeenah.org Appleton — 920-739-1679 · SVDPAppleton.org

Volunteers meet with people to work out what is actually needed, so it is a conversation rather than a form-and-wait.

If you have been rehoused with nothing in the house

St Vincent de Paul's national disaster arm runs a programme called House in a Box — furniture, bedding and some appliances, packed as a kit and shipped to a household's new home. It is arranged through a local organisation rather than by you directly, so mention it when you speak to them, or to your case manager if you have one. SVDPDisaster.org

World Relief Wisconsin supports refugees directly affected by the tornado. The county lists them under housing, basic needs and legal services, which in practice means one organisation that will take the whole situation rather than one piece of it.

920-231-3600 · WorldRelief.org/Wisconsin

What they do

• Needs assessment — someone sits down and works out what you actually need
• Case management — one person who knows your situation, instead of explaining it again at every office
• Referrals into the other help listed on this site
• Document recovery
• Housing assistance
• Basic needs assistance

Why document recovery matters here

If your household arrived as refugees, some of your papers cannot be reordered from a county clerk. Immigration documents, resettlement paperwork, records from another country — losing those to a tornado is a different and much harder problem than losing a birth certificate, and it is worth going to people who deal with it specifically.

This does not replace the ordinary routes. For a Wisconsin birth certificate, driver's licence or Social Security card, see "Replacing lost vital documents" under Insurance & Money — that is faster for anything the state itself issued.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is offering free help across three things the county lists separately:

• Home repair knowledge — advice and practical help working out how to put something right
• Loading and unloading boxes if you are relocating. This is the one people do not think to ask for, and it is exactly what is hard when you are moving a household you did not plan to move
• Basic care needs, and mental health and religious care if you want it

773-766-5667 · churchofjesuschrist.org

You do not have to be a member of the church, and nothing here is conditional on becoming one.

This is no longer the overnight shelter. Winnebago County has moved overnight sheltering to Appleton North High School, 5000 N Ballard Rd, Appleton.

Christ the Rock remains listed as a cooling and charging site — somewhere to get out of the heat, charge a phone, and sit down.

It sheltered people from 2:30 p.m. on July 27 through the first week, and a lot of people in Menasha still associate it with that. If you need a bed tonight, go to Appleton North.