So, there will be no day center again this winter and once again, for the 4th year in a row, are planning a temporary solution. What is wrong with this community that we can’t get this right? I can’t believe we are building a tiny house village that will be ready before a permanent comprehensive day center for people who are homeless. Even at my most cynical moments, I would have never imagined it.
NOTE: I have blogged about most of this, but don’t have time to go back and put in all the links to reference everything I’m saying here, but if you google forwardlookout.com and “day center” you will find all the documentation to back up most of what I am saying below.
HISTORY/BACKGROUND
When the library closed for remodeling and the capital closed its basement, it became apparent that there was no place for homeless people to go during the winter to stay warm. In 2011 – 2012 the city paid for a day warming center in an old car dealership on E. Washington. The facility run by Porchlight had very little to offer beyond warmth, but it was a place to stay warm. In 2012 – 2013 Sarah Gillmore and Z! Haukeness (Shine 608) ran a center at 827 E. Washington that was really crowded but very popular and provided housing information, social service providers came to the facility to meet with people, they had storage, clothing, breakfast and lunch, programs like poetry writing, crocheting, yoga, AA meetings, etc, they had a computer lab, helped people get id’s and birth certificates, etc. etc. etc. That should have just kept going where it was with additional space, but County Executive Parisi made a promise to Rainbow (nonprofit next door) that they would not renew the lease. In 2013 – 2014 they couldn’t even find a place for the day center. Instead, they pieced together programming by providing services at the library, paying Bethel to be open 2 extra days per week (they were open Tues – Thurs.), and in 2014 they paid for storage and laundry programs as well as provided portapotties in the downtown area. This plan had serious flaws in that there was no where to go on the holidays or Sundays before 1:00. And with the extra cold winter, we saw people die right outside the shelter, which resulted in some transportation being provided in the coldest mornings. After 3 years of failure, $600,000 in the budget to purchase a building and years of criticism, you’d think they’d have a kick-ass plan for 2014 – 2015. But, they don’t.
Last spring everyone thought that the new location was going to be the MARC facility on Lien Rd. and it was supposed to open in July. It had major transportation barriers, but the facility was nearly move in ready, extra spacious and located in an area with other amenities. It may or may not (not according to the city) have needed a conditional use permit. Seemed like an acceptable solution until something could be found in the downtown area. Somewhere along the line tho, that plan got dumped and there was a surprise announcement that the county would instead be buying the existing alleged day warming center run by Porchlight at 1490 Martin St. in the Town of Madison. The facility is not much more than a metal shed/pole barn warehouse. It needs major renovations. The Town of Madison got involved and approved the facility with 14 conditions, but then also appealed the decision of the zoning administrator that this facility was a permitted use in that location. That appeal was supposed to be heard at the end of August, but was delayed when he corporation council had a personal issue to attend to and finally last Thursday the hearing was held and on a vote of 5-0 they voted to uphold the zoning administrator decision and keep their appointments to the board by doing as the County Executive (who appoints them) wanted. Now the county has 30 days to decide if they want to go to court. If they do, this could be hung up in court for quite some time. If not, it will be mid-October and they still need to work through the 14 conditions of approval (some are substantial like getting hooked up to city water), do the renovations that will take 6 weeks and there you go, we won’t have a day center this winter.
PIECING TOGETHER ANOTHER TEMPORARY PLAN
On Friday, County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan sent out the following memo:
September 12, 2014
TO: Members of the Dane County Board
FROM: Supervisor Sharon Corrigan, Chair Dane County Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT: Status of the Purchase of the Martin Street Property for a Day Resource CenterAs you know, on May 15th, the County Board authorized the purchase of the building at 1490 Martin Street to serve as a day resource center for homeless individuals. The property is zoned C-1 Commercial and falls under Dane County Zoning. It is currently owned by Porchlight, Inc. and is used as a site to provide services to the homeless. According to Zoning Administrator Roger Lane, the proposed day resource center is an allowable use in this zoning category.
On July 21st, the Town of Madison and owners of two neighboring properties filed an appeal of the Zoning Administrator’s determination that the day shelter is a permitted use in the C-1 Zoning District. The appellants have indicated they believe the shelter is not a permitted use in C-1, but rather a Governmental Use requiring a conditional use permit.
Yesterday, the Board of Adjustment heard the appeal and the County prevailed. The vote was 5-0 to uphold the determination of the Zoning Administrator. The Town now has 30 days to appeal the Board of Adjustment decision to Circuit Court.
The purchase of the Martin Street facility will not be finalized until there are no further opportunities for appeal. As a result, it is clear that the day resource center as envisioned in May will not be ready to open its doors in November.
The County is prepared to provide day services for homeless individuals both at Martin Street through Porchlight, as well as at Bethel Lutheran Church this winter, and remains committed to the purchase and renovation of the Martin Street property as soon as possible once the zoning appeals are settled.
ANOTHER SCREWED UP WINTER
Ok, so far, the only thing different than 4 years ago is that Bethel is open an extra two days a week (Mondays and Fridays) and we are now paying (county) for one staff person there. Otherwise, it’s the same, except the number of people needing the service has increased. The Martin St. location was open the entire time this crisis has been going on, this is not an additional (or really usable) service for most people because people can’t get there if they don’t get into the one van (holds 8 – 12 people) that shuttles people around. There is no plan for the holidays, no plan for Sunday’s before 1:00. And now, the storage is closing on October 15th, the city is making me get rid of my lockers, there still are insufficient showers and the laundry program is serving twice as many people as before.
COUNTY IS A SHITTY EMPLOYER
One of the untold stories here is what has happened to Sarah and Z! during this whole fiasco. The winter they ran the day center, they were seriously understaffed and worked every single weekend and holiday for the winter. Which was sustainable temporarily, but then their employment with Porchlight ended. They were forced to work for Porchlight because the county wouldn’t contract directly with Shine 608. In October that year they were paid to do some services at the library. This time they were county employees because the county refused to allow Tenant Resource Center to be the fiscal agent for Shine 608. That very part time (12 hours a week) was extended til July when it was believed that the day center would be opening. When that didn’t happen, they again extended that minimal service through mid-August. But mid-August, the county told them on Tuesday that their last day of employment was Friday and they were done. They each made less than $15,000 this year. Right now, they have no jobs and are being asked to work only weekends at the library this winter. Clearly, they can’t continue to be strung along without full-time employment and a clear timeline about what will happen when. They are being asked start providing services at the Porchlight facility on January 1 but the facility isn’t adequate as is (if 50 people show up they will be overflowing), there is no transportation plan, there is problems with the water being insufficient, etc etc etc and there is the risk that the Town will find another way to prevent them from operating. And then, when they do the renovations they will have to shut down and then restart. It all seems hopelessly unworkable and I don’t think we can ask Sarah and Z! to be strung along for another 6 months. When they answered the RFP in the summer of 2013 and were accepted, it was a completely different project because they were looking at being in the Wright St. facility.
FUNDING FOLLIES
So, despite being only partially employed, somehow Sarah and Z! have made this all work so far, but its getting absurd and you can’t live on $15,000/year. I can’t believe the county didn’t extend their employment in August and only gave them 3 days notice – so they went and got different jobs. And now, even if they wanted to, they can’t fundraise for their jobs with Shine 608 because they are allegedly funded by the United Way (even tho they haven’t gotten a dime from them yet and have never been told how much money they will get from them) and as a result they are in the blackout period when nonprofits can’t fundraise until November when the United Way ends their fundraising period. I don’t understand this at all since United Way hasn’t made any concrete commitment to this project.
In addition to all this, the RFP that went out clearly told the applicants that they were not supposed to pay for rent because the facilities and major maintenance would be provided by the county. At the hearing, county staff said that Shine608 would have to pay rent. They are being told that they need to provide the washers and dryers and refridgerators, etc. Who knows what other surprises and cost-shifting will go on, but with nothing in writing or any solid agreements, it seems quite uncertain.
CAN THEM MEET THE 14 CONDITIONS?
There also remains the question of what will it cost for the county to meet all these conditions and will they need a budget amendment or further approvals from the county board? I bolded the ones that I think present the biggest challenges.
Dave Bloom moved and Brian Burkeland seconded the motion to approve the site plans with the following conditions:
a) Owner shall comply with the State of Wisconsin Commercial Building Code, Dane County Code of Ordinances, and Town of Madison Code of Ordinances.
b) Owner shall provide an Erosion control and Stormwater Management Plan as approved by Dane County (if required).
c) Owner shall provide a parking, loading, and circulation plan in accordance with Dane County Code of Ordinances.
d) Owner shall sprinkler the building; provide a monitored fire alarm and Knox box as per the Town Fire Chief.
e) Exterior lighting shall be dark sky compliant.
f) Owner shall be responsible for all costs associated with the extension of public water main, sidewalk and curb and gutter, and terrace landscaping (including trees, driveway aprons, seeding and mulching, and restoration) from Fish Hatchery Road west to 1490 Martin Street.
g) Owner shall enter into an agreement with the Town of Madison for the extension of public facilities within the Town right-of-way of Martin Street.
h) Owner shall reimburse the Town of Madison for the costs of all police, fire, and ambulance calls to serve clients of the Day Resource Center, wherever the call may originate from within the Town of Madison limits.
i) Owner shall be responsible to self-monitor occupancy of the building. When maximum occupancy has been reached, entry to the building by clients shall cease and transportation of clients to the center shall cease.
j) Owner shall provide a privacy fence between the buildings on the east side and repair the privacy fence on the west side of the property.
k) Owner shall provide an ejector pump at the nmth end of the building to discharge sewage to a downstream sanitary sewer manhole flowing easterly toward Fish Hatchery Road.
1) Owner shall be responsible for proper snow removal as per the Town Public Works Director.
m) Future alterations requiring a building permit shall require Town Plan Committee approval.
n) Any proposed increase in occupancy shall require Town Plan Committee approval.
So, this is a warming center and if it gets too crowded they are supposed to keep people outside their doors? Could you imagine that, person freezes to death outside warming shelter because it exceeded capacity? What are they supposed to do, take turns waiting outside because there are too many people. If they have a limit of 99 people and the old cetner had 125 or more people there per day, how is this going to work, assuming that transportation gets worked out. Weekends and holidays will be especially problematic.
HOW MUCH IS THIS ALL COSTING?
This looks expensive! We figured $80,000 for transportation at one point. The capital costs seems to be going over $600,000. And allegedly the city, county and United Way will be putting in $100,000 each for operating costs for a year. I believe the city and county will do that, not sure what is going on with United Way. Someone needs to do some open records requests on what has been spent so far on architect fees etc and what they expect to be spending.
SAME PROBLEMS
Where are people who are banned from the library and Bethel and Porchlight supposed to go? These are mostly people with mental illnesses or AODA issues. But they shouldn’t have to freeze to death because of it. They are people who, if you create a relationship with, are manageable, but there also needs to be quiet and private spaces for these folks to go when necessary and none of these options have that.
NOW WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
It’s pretty damn late to be figuring this out, but they need to rent a downtown location until they find a permanent downtown location that they can purchase. The transportation costs to the center would be 25% of the operating costs. The money they are sinking into this pit of a building is unconscionable. Sarah and Z! should be given full time jobs to work on making this work instead of relying on county staff to not do it, they could search for temporary rental property and a new permanent space that meets the needs they have and work with the neighborhoods in advance. They could reinstate and staff the storage program, staff the bubbles programs, and they could work on a showers program. They could do outreach at the city-county building and be available in places that people are not banned from (Bethel, City-County Building, Library) And, the county should worry less about PR and more about getting the job done and doing the right thing. This has been embarrassing, lets just get this done and over with.
