Last night, county staff said on multiple occasions that they are still looking for a site for the day center. The are filing a conditional use for Martin St. (Town of Madison) and have no clue if Bellini’s would work, so they are still looking if people have ideas. Got ideas?
As a community, we look absurd. The government, the nonprofits, the private sector, all of us.
We need a day center
I think people know we need a comprehensive downtown day center for people without homes to get their basic needs met (food, (daytime) shelter, clothing plus showers, storage, laundry); to have a base from which to look for housing and jobs and take care of their medical and other personal needs (places to charge their phones, get mail, use computers, maybe connect to transportation resources and get assistance with resumes and housing and job searches and applications, get a blanket or sleeping bag if they are out of days at shelter); to have services provided to meet other needs and programming or activities for those who just need something worthwhile to do while they wait and wait and wait for their name to come up on housing lists (trending 6 months – 3 years) or to get their SSDI denied, appealed and approved (trending 6 months to years). I don’t think anyone disagrees with that vision.
It should be downtown or needs a robust transportation plan
I think most people know we need to locate this downtown. It needs to be downtown. If not, we need a transportation plan to get 100-150 people a day to the day center location and back to the shelters every day in all weather. Bikes might work, for some. Many folks are 50 or older or disabled or have severe medical conditions. Having one van clearly doesn’t do it. Two vans won’t solve the issue either. Monthly or unlimited (like UW and Hospital employees) bus passes would be ideal because they could use them for housing and job searches and medical appointments. However, if the point is to keep people out of the cold, waiting for a bus at -20 degrees doesn’t seem to fill the need.
A day center could be the key to much more
A great day center could be the hub for so many services and a key to the Zero 2016 plan the city, county and many nonprofits are working on. We are registering as many people as we can and prioritizing them for the best type of housing they need (permanent supportive housing with services or “rapid rehousing” or can they get private sector housing without any help – which some people can do). The goal is to end veteran homelessness as it existed in the beginning of the year, by the end of the year. Estimated to be about 166 people (I think the estimates are off). And then end chronic homelessness (defined by HUD as having a disability (including alcohol or drug addictions and mental health) and having been homeless for longer than a year or 4 times in the past 3 years) by the end of 2016 or maybe 2017. Those numbers are way off, I can’t even repeat them, but it could be anywhere from 100 – 400 people. The day center could be a great resource for this, to help get people evaluated (VI-SPDAT’d). To house a housing locator that helps find landlords that would participate and help manage openings at nonprofits to help get those most vulnerable into housing as a priority. It would also be a base for social workers to do outreach and case management from. To have the services come to the people who need them instead of playing phone tag with people who don’t have reliably charged phones or enough minutes or making them find the non-existent bus tickets to get to the social workers.
And of course, we need housing
And it has to be the Housing First model. Put people in housing, give them the stability they need to address medical or other needs. When people get good rest, get to relax and have some privacy, and don’t have to run all over town to get their needs met (sleep here, eat here, wait here), it changes everything. And it breeds success.
Can you help with the core issue? We need the base, the day center.
Ok, seriously, we need a property downtown, probably at least 8000 square feet, that costs $2.5M or less to purchase and renovate. Know of
ANYTHING? If so, reach out to someone, the county, the city, me. Let us know! At the county I’d suggest Casey Becker (Becker.Casey@countyofdane.com) to start, she is the homeless services contract manager and staff to the Homeless Issues Committee. At the city I’d suggest Natalie Erdman (nerdman@cityofmadison.com), Matt Wachter (mwachter@cityofmadison.com) or Jim O’Keefe (jokeefeA@cityofmadison.com). If you want to reach out to key advocates, probably me (brendakonkel@gmail.com) or Heidi Wegleitner (wegleitner.heidi@countyofdane.com) or any alder or any county board supervisor. I think they all want to find a viable solution as quickly as possible (especially the county board supervisors given the election coming up and their statements that this was the number one priority 2 years ago). My only caveat to all of this is that just because you forward an idea, it doesn’t mean its being followed up with, so check back with the person or let the advocates know so we know to check-in on any progress.
Can you help with housing, do you know landlords that would help?
The other piece of housing first, besides the Rethke type projects, is placing people in market rate housing with rental subsidies and case management as necessary. So, do you know any landlords that want to rent to a veteran? If so, tell the housing locator at the Veteran’s Administration! Her name is Elizabeth Gokey (a former TRC staffer for 7 years!) Elizabeth.Gokey@va.gov We did a survey of private landlords and found 72 at least willing to answer a quick survey with about 40 willing to rent to a vet – but timing is everything. If you know any landlords out there willing to take a shot at this, let her know! Someday will have that same type of housing locator person for chronically homeless folks, I hope!
