Occupy Madison pushes to complete tiny houses as people move in
MADISON, Wis. – The arrival of cold weather makes the push to shelter those without permanent homes even more important, while the pandemic in many ways makes that more complicated.
“That’s made it a little more challenging,” said Brenda Konkel, co-president of Occupy Madison. “There’s lot of people who don’t want to go to the shelters. Thinking about sleeping in a room with 100 other people is a little bit daunting for a lot of folks.”
Konkel said that’s part of the reason Occupy Madison is overseeing a tiny houses project, with the goal of building 28 60-square-foot houses on the property of the old Wiggie’s Bar on Madison’s north side. They’re outfitted with heat, lights and electricity, with the building of the former bar to be home to a kitchen, a laundry site and bathrooms.
The pandemic has made meetings more difficult, Konkel said, along with keeping volunteers safe as they build the homes. At the same time, she said the three-month “whirlwind” process has come together very quickly.
This week, Konkel said about a dozen people will have moved in to the tiny houses.
“You see the struggles people are going through, you can’t help but do it,” she said. “They help build their tiny houses. They help participate in their community. They do the work around here. It really is not people doing it for them, it’s doing it with them.”
The project is part of a bigger picture in the Madison area as groups and leaders find new ways to keep those experiencing homelessness safe and warm.
“It’s really a joint effort,” said Jim O’Keefe, the community development director for the city of Madison. “There’s a decided emphasis as the weather has started to turn on making sure that families have shelter.”
He said there are about 90 families being sheltered in hotel settings. Since September, the number of unsheltered people in Madison has been cut in half to about 100, and the city and its partners are hoping to lower that even further in the coming weeks.
That takes finding creative solutions during the pandemic.
“We threw out the box a long time ago,” said Steve Heck, operations and development director for the Salvation Army. “Now we’re working outside. The box is gone.”
For the first time, the Salvation Army is putting people up in hotels. It’s because of the pandemic, which he said is bringing on a greater need for their services.
“It’s a lot more. I can’t even give you a number. We stopped worrying about that. It’s who’s next, who can we help, what do they need, how can we shift resources,” Heck said. “Whether it’s somebody who lost their job or they’re waiting for unemployment to come, there’s a lot of folks out there that are one paycheck away from needing our services.”
Even with enhanced sanitation and health safety measures, Heck said it’s a credit to the clients and their care that no one at their downtown shelter has tested positive for COVID-19. The Salvation Army has close to double the number of women they’d usually have in their shelter, with more expected because of the cold weather.
“As we move families and single women into permanent housing, we move one out, two more are ready to come in,” he said.
This year, the best way people can help is by donating to the Red Kettle Campaign, Heck said, even though that looks different this year. More information can be found here.
Men experiencing homelessness have been staying at Warner Park instead of in downtown church basements, with a temporary men’s shelter opening up next week at the city’s Fleet Services Building.
If there’s a silver lining during the pandemic, O’Keefe said it’s that it’s brought to light what available shelter spaces aren’t able to offer.
“Those venues, as well as they have served this community over the years, just couldn’t provide safe shelter services. I think we’re on the track to providing much better long-term permanent shelter solutions in Madison,” O’Keefe said. “We’re ramping up shelter capacity. We’ve increased hotel capacity. At the end of the day, though, the answer to homelessness is housing.”
The city recently put a little more than a million dollars into rapid rehousing programs, he said.
A location for a permanent men’s shelter fell through this fall. O’Keefe said he’s confident the city will identify a new site by early next year.
Despite the pandemic’s challenges, Konkel points to a silver lining herself.
“I think the pandemic has brought a lot of resources to the community, but exposed a lot of gaps in our system,” Konkel said.
They’re gaps she’s helping fill, knowing that even small efforts can add up to something big.
“The community has been so tremendous,” she said, giving credit to the city and county for helping push the tiny houses project along, as well as the more than 1,000 community members who have donated their time or money. “This is happening at lightning speed, and it’s happening because of community support.”
Konkel is hoping the Dane County Board will approve a resolution for $200,000 to support the project on Dec. 17. Occupy Madison is aiming to raise another $400,000.
More information for people who would like to help out can be found here.
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December 11, 2020 at 06:11AM
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'It's really a joint effort': Pandemic exposes gaps, pushes forward new solutions to homelessness - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3
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