The police couldn't find anyone to run a homeless shelter. So they are running it themselves
Sources say so far, so good, though there are still plans to get someone else to run it next year
This spring the city put out requests for proposals to run a shelter to house Wausau’s homeless population.
No one responded.
Some organizations told city officials that with more time they could put a proposal together - but not with the short notice this time around.
Time was running out. Catholic Charities no longer had the capacity to run the city’s shelter and planned to no longer do so by May 1 (Barnes says Catholic Charities plans to run a shelter, just not contracting with the city to be the main shelter.)
So, the police department decided to start running it themselves.
Starting this month, the police department has been running the shelter at the First United Methodist Church next to the Woodson History Center in the northern downtown area.
How’s it going?
Surprisingly well, Wausau Police Chief Matt Barnes and other sources say. The shelter in the church basement has housed between 35-42 per night, and there have been around 11 staff or volunteers operating the shelter, he told The Wausonian. Barnes said he was surprised at the outpouring of people who came out to work at the shelter, even city staff.
“We have a lot of groups that come in, they’ve done this type of work before, they take direction, and we let them do their thing,” Barnes says.
The total capacity at the shelter is 60. Barnes speaking at a homeless task force meeting between the city and county earlier this year told them that police on the coldest night counted how many people were in shelter, including the Community on Call locations (a program that employs voluntary shelter locations on the harshest weather conditions). Officers went around and checked all the places homeless individuals would normally be. Satisfied that everyone who could be was in shelter, and adding some cushion, police decided that the max capacity the city would need for a shelter is around 60.
There were some initial adjustments, says First United Methodist Church Pastor Rebecca Borke. Borke says they learned their laundry facilities weren’t able to handle the load of everyone washing their bedding materials every day, so they switched to a once every three days approach. And, they changed the entrance from the courtyard to the 3rd Street entrance to not conflict with New Beginnings for Refugees, and that also allows all the groups in the church to have their own secure spaces. And, she said, large groups can no longer use the Fellowship Hall in the evenings.
Borke told The Wausonian that the church had already assisted Catholic Charities with space in the early 2020s, and she was certain when Barnes asked about using the space back in April that the congregation would agree. She said within a day everyone in the church she had reached out to enthusiastically agreed.
The church’s motto on its website is “Open hearts. Open minds. Open Doors” and Borke told The Wausonian that the church’s desire to open its doors to the unhoused is rooted in that motto. “We are people with faith in Christ and a desire to follow his teachings, and this is one of the ways that seems pretty obvious,” Borke says. “We are also trying to live out our vision to love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously.”
Functional zero
Police expect to run the shelter through the end of the year, or roughly eight months. That should give time for organizations to develop proposals for something more permanent.
That’s part of the larger philosophy police, city and county leaders are aiming toward: a functional zero approach. The idea, modeled after a similar approach in La Crosse, means that people are leaving homelessness at the same rate they’re entering it. While the number is never zero, exactly, it’s functionally zero because people aren’t staying in a state of homelessness.
City Council President Lisa Rasmussen agrees with that approach. “If, as a community, we develop and grow programming with partner agencies that help people get on the path to recovery and sustain their recovery through case management, we can make a big difference and probably save lives,” Rasmussen told The Wausonian.
Outreach Coordinator Tracy Durante (formerly Rieger) told The Wausonian that the shelter has separate men’s and women’s spaces, something crucial for safety (an earlier proposal to build case management for homeless women was paused by the council meant to address some of those safety concerns) and the overall vibe of the guests at the shelter is happy and grateful. She says the “overall square footage allows each guest to have a bit more space. I have witnessed a lot of positive guest interactions with one another as well.”
Durante told The Wausonian that they run the shelter with a greater focus on accountability. Guests who have to work have their own alarm clocks to wake themselves up with, for instance, versus staff waking them up. “There is a lot more accountability and responsibility here because we believe that teaching life skills while we have them will be crucial to their long-term success.”
She says the increased capacity is helpful too. The Catholic Charities shelter only had 30 beds and that meant some were turned away every night.
Getting back to lower numbers
I asked Barnes if when he first put on a uniform he ever thought he would be overseeing a homeless shelter. Barnes said in fact, 25 years ago, he could tell you the name of every homeless person in the city because there were so few of them. The Salvation Army largely met the shelter needs of the city. That has since changed as the numbers of homeless individuals has grown over the years.
I had originally asked to see the shelter for myself. Barnes was hesitant, and during the interview he explained why they’re not letting press into the shelter. They’re not doing organized tours for the city council either. They wanted to be respectful of those using the shelter.
That population includes many who have jobs in the community, something that might surprise many people. “We have individuals who are working full-time, they have co-workers,” Barnes says. “They’re in the shelter because they’re not making enough money or they have challenges that impact that.” People who have had challenges renting in the past are more likely to get passed up for renting a place, even when they have worked on turning their lives around.”
The WMC Shelter might only be a small part of Wausau’s history, depending on the proposals the city receives for a more permanent shelter operator. But so far, those involved say, it’s working.
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