Wausau discussion centers on transitional housing, additional strategies to combat homelessness

Damakant Jayshi

Wausau leaders this week pledged to explore potential funding sources for tiny homes and other modes of emergency shelters as they seek to address homelessness in the city.

The Wausau City Council discussed transitional housing during their meeting on Monday. After a presentation by various organizations, the alders agreed that the city must take action to address homelessness.

Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting assumed added significance since it was held after the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, on June 28, that cities can prohibit people from people sleeping outdoors, like in parks and a city’s parking ramps. The ecision said the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment that bans cruel and unusual punishment was not applicable even when cities do not offer alternative places to sleep.

Tiny homes have become popular because they are an inexpensive and efficient way to provide temporary shelters to those who are homeless before they move on to a more permanent housing. In Madison, tiny homes – 99-square-foot houses – offer shelters to residents without a permanent address.

Discussing tiny homes, Alder Tom Neal also said the city could build “pallet homes” for qualified residents. The city should work to get funding for such projects, he said.

Alder Gary Gisselman said he wants to know more about transitional housing, how it works, who would manage the effort, how it is organized and what available funding resources can be found. The Dist. 5 alder said the city should also consider how close many people truly are to being homeless – one check or one pay day away. He spoke about evictions and asked if the city can take steps to prevent people from becoming homeless.

Common Council Chair Lisa Rasmussen said that some organizations provide transitional housing but acknowledged a remaining gap. She said the city needs to scale up its affordable housing units, including transitional housing. Later during the discussion, she said the needs of the newly homeless and people who have been chronically homeless for some time are sometimes completely different.

Mayor Doug Diny agreed that transitional housing could be an option, saying it could keep people from dying on the street and help them get into a house. But he said that while these and other ideas are worth pursuing, the city should also think about how such efforts could be funded.

The mayor also said the city needs to define its role in addressing homelessness. He suggested looking into exploring a Wausau-Marathon County partnership on the matter.

But Neal said the issue of finance has always been raised, even for the needs for which the city bears responsibility. He referred to the time when Wausau introduced bus service in the city. Then, some residents objected to paying for a service they did not use, while at the same time complaining about the lack of ridership. The Dist. 4 alder said Wausau has bus service because the city has a population that relies on that it – whether it’s going shopping or groceries, or going to medical appointments. “It’s part of our altruistic reason for being the government of the city,” Neal said.

That same ethical responsibility requires the city to look for feasible options for housing, whether they are a one-person shelter program or tiny homes’ village, Neal said.

Barnes: No change in police approach, post-SC ruling on homelessness

Wausau Police Chief Matthew Barnes said he saw no need to change how his department deals with homeless people in the city in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling since the its approach is producing results. That is, unless the city wants to change the direction after the high court’s ruling, he said.

The city has already imposed some restrictions on people without permanent homes. An ordinance bans camping in public places and the police have been aggressively enforcing it in areas including a segment beneath the Scott Street Bridge that once housed multiple tent encampments.

Barnes said the police department works with the City Attorney’s Office to develop a program that requires issuing a 14- to 15-day notice to people in these encampments.

“It’s working. I feel fine with that. I don’t see any reason, regardless of what the Supreme Court ruled, to change anything immediately just because they had a ruling,” Barnes said.

He also said that hiring two additional officers to center on homeless residents has improved the quality of life in the city’s downtown. In April, the City Council approved hiring two additional officers to deal with the issue in Wausau despite strong opposition from advocates working on homelessness and some alders.

Barnes again said that housing is important but just housing someone is no guarantee for success. Transitional housing can provide skills for the unhoused to live successfully on their own, he said. He had asked city leaders to consider a transitional housing program for single homeless women in January. While the city leaders were interested, they said Marathon County and North Central Health Care should bear responsibility and assume a greater role in addressing homelessness in the city and surrounding areas.

During the public comments period at the end of the meeting, affordable housing advocate Sandra Kelch said that while she admires the city leaders for discussing various options, they should also try to listen to the unhoused people who the city is trying to help.

Wrapping up the discussion, Rasmussen said there is an opportunity for a task force between the city and the county “and figuring out where we fit in terms of the solution.” She said city leaders will continue to explore solutions to address problems related to homelessness and said they will discuss the matter again in the fall.

The first part of the COW meeting involved informational presentations “outlining work currently in progress to impact homelessness in the area” and the second part was devoted to discussion about next steps by city’s leaders.

Before the discussion began, alders heard presentations from representatives of a number of local representatives including Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard, City Attorney Anne Jacobson, city’s homeless liaison officer Tracy Rieger as well Randy Fifrick, the city’s interim Community Development director, and the Fire Department. Representatives of two organizations providing shelter, Catholic Charities and Bridge Street Mission, also spoke at the COW meeting.