St. Ben's expanding services during RNC, which could restrict homeless people's routes, sleeping spots

Five nights a week, homeless and hungry individuals rely on St. Ben's Community Meal for a warm dinner. That's in addition to showers, haircuts and laundry services in the afternoons.

Soon, those clients will find themselves on the edge of the Republican National Convention's restricted "vehicle screening perimeter" and just a block from its "hard zone," where pedestrians will need credentials to enter.

The staff of St. Ben's wants to keep its guests comfortable during the convention and prevent potential conflicts between homeless individuals and police at the perimeter checkpoints. So they are expanding their services during the RNC, and they will operate both a day shelter and an overnight shelter July 14-19.

"We'll be pretty prepared to take care of folks and really direct them to what's going to be safe and helpful," said Father Mike Bertram, ministry director for Capuchin Community Services, which runs the St. Ben's program.

More: The Republican National Convention is coming to Milwaukee. Here's when it is, where it is and what it's all about.

Usual sleeping spots, routes could be blocked by security perimeter

St. Ben's typically operates an overnight warming shelter during the winter months, December to March. During the RNC, staff will return to a familiar routine of setting up 40 cots in the dining hall for men and 20 cots in another room for women.

And in the daytime, staff will offer refreshments and activities, and people can cool off in the air conditioning indoors.

In the summer, homeless individuals typically sleep outside, often downtown. It's possible their typical sleeping spots fall within the security zone.

And during the day, people tend to head west from the downtown area to St. Ben's for dinner, at North Ninth and West State Streets, Bertram said.

People are likely to find their usual routes blocked during the RNC.

That fact is "what really has moved us to say we need to up our provisions, especially for the people who are dislocated," Bertram said.

The vehicle screening perimeter is open to all pedestrians regardless of credentials, but vehicles entering the area must go through one of five screening checkpoints. That zone extends west to North Ninth Street, on the edge of the St. Ben's parking lot. And the hard zone, where pedestrian access is restricted to people with credentials, extends along State Street west to North Eighth Street, just a block away.

St. Ben's staff working with police to reduce potential conflicts with homeless

There's a possibility for tension if police try to clear homeless individuals from their sleeping spots as the zone is set up, or as people are diverted from their usual routines and locations.

Bertram said he has been speaking with Milwaukee police to offer St. Ben's staff as liaisons between officers and the homeless if confusion or misunderstandings come up.

Communication with police will be key, he said, especially since officers from other departments could be working in the area and wouldn't be familiar with the people who reside on the streets downtown.

"There may be a few who fall through the cracks, and they find themselves within the zone. So hopefully with law enforcement and our communication with them, they can be directed to St. Ben's," Bertram said.

More: How did we get purple? What to know about Wisconsin politics ahead of the RNC.

Bertram said he isn't worried about interactions between visitors to the convention and the homeless. He expected most RNC attendees to stay within the security perimeter.

Staff will be working to inform clients at the evening meals about the RNC and the closures.

In other moments when staff are giving instructions about important information, Bertram has found the diners are attentive and "make every effort to follow directions exactly as we give them," he said.

The RNC itself runs July 15-18, and restrictions on pedestrian access to the hard zone will begin July 14 at 6 p.m. The vehicle screening perimeter restrictions begin July 15 at 2 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: St. Ben's expanding services during RNC, which could restrict homeless people's routes, sleeping spots