Let Homeless people sleep at the City-County Building! Letter signed by: Supervisors Carousel Bayrd, Jenni Dye, John Hendrick, Dorothy Krause, Al Matano, Patrick Miles, Leland Pan, Jeff Pertl, Kyle Richmond, Michele Ritt, Nick Zweifel and Heidi Wegleitner! Thank you!!!
Good morning,
Attached please find a memo from Supervisors Carousel Bayrd, Jenni Dye, John Hendrick, Dorothy Krause, Al Matano, Patrick Miles, Leland Pan, Jeff Pertl, Kyle Richmond, Michele Ritt, Nick Zweifel and I requesting the City-County Liaison Committee, Mayor Soglin, and County Executive Parisi rescind their intent and effort to enforce trespass and loitering policies at the CCB. Please review. I look forward to your response.
Thank you for your consideration,
Heidi M. Wegleitner
Dane County Supervisor, District 2
608-333-3676
To: City-County Liaison Committee Mayor Paul Soglin
County Executive Joe ParisiCc: Dane County Board of Supervisors City of Madison Common Council
Date: October 1,2015
RE: Request for Rescission of August 31,2015 CCB Trespass Enforcement Decision
On August 31, 2015 your committee voted to enforce trespass and loitering ordinances against unhoused persons currently sleeping in front of the City-County Building beginning October 1,2015. We, the undersigned Dane County Supervisors, respectfully request you suspend all intent and effort to enforce this policy and formally rescind it as soon as possible. While shelter providers have extended the number of nights persons can access shelter, many still cannot access overnight shelter and have no other options.
The shelter for families and single women at The Salvation Army has limited staff and space. It is common for women and families to be turned away because there are not enough beds available. Just because a woman’s number of annual days may have been extended, she still cannot get in when the shelter is full. It is our understanding that men who have already been granted extensions by Porchlight are not eligible for the additional extension to 90 days. Some men have been permanently banned from Porchlight’s Drop-In shelter, the only shelter available to men in Dane County, and those bans have not yet been lifted. Further, there are people who cannot access shelter because the conditions in shelter often crowded, noisy, and lacking adequate privacy– exacerbate symptoms of their disabilities. Lastly, the shelter extensions have been granted only on a trial basis and may not continue.
We must ensure alternative solutions are in place for those who cannot currently access shelter before we displace them. As of today, there is no plan in place to identify those without shelter access and connect them to safe alternatives·. Please rescind your CCB trespass and loitering enforcement policy as soon as possible and work with us to prioritize real solutions, like Housing First, a comprehensive day resource center, and an aggressive expansion of affordable housing. It is budget time and we have an opportunity to make strategic investments in these programs that will be effective and humane. Thank you for your consideration.
