Homelessness, a persistent problem for Wausau, gets renewed attention from city
WAUSAU − At a Wausau City Council meeting Tuesday night, Alderman Gary Gisselman showed the council a May 17, 1990, Wausau Daily Herald editorial about a 36-year-old homeless man who had been found dead in a landfill.
Police at the time believed the man had climbed into a trash bin and died, according to an article on the front page. The editorial called for action to help the homeless people in the city. "Wausau, we have a serious problem," the editorial told readers.
"Since 1990, the city has been dealing with the issue of homelessness," Gisselman said.
On Tuesday evening, the City Council met to talk about the lingering issue of homelessness in Wausau, with Alderman Tom Kilian and Gisselman asking for the special council meeting.
Tuesday's meeting started as a tour of areas in Wausau where people who are homeless congregate, to educate the members on the issue in the city. The council invited the heads of departments in the city, as well as Marathon County and nonprofit representatives who work with people who are homeless to talk to the council.
At least since 1914, Wausau has had some type of a Committee of the Poor, Gisselman said. The city needs to create some type of group to work with different agencies to solve the problem, he said. He pointed to the city of Wauwatosa hiring a full-time social worker and created a Department of Social Work. Gisselman said he'd like to see that be a goal for the city.
Safety a concern from the public
Wausau Deputy Police Chief Matt Barnes said businesses regularly contact the police to report on problems connected to people who are homeless. Loitering, bad behavior, panhandling and a significant amount of retail theft — mostly food and alcohol — are primary complaints, he said. In January, a count done of Wausau homeless found 16 people, mostly in the downtown area. The shelters were at near capacity.
The city has a beautiful library downtown and the policy is that staff members are very open and welcoming to the homeless population, Barnes said. However, library staff contacted police and asked for daily foot patrols inside the building because of fights and daily intoxication. A person overdosed in the bathroom in the children's section of the library, Barnes said. Many parents won't bring their children to the library anymore, he said.
"The same can be said for the River Walk," Barnes said.
He told council members that, on Monday, a woman told him she planned to take her child down to the river for a walk. She pulled up and saw the homeless encampment on the River Walk and decided not to. It was because of fear, Barnes said.
"We all should be able to exist in an area without fear," he said.
The city has shelters and there are agencies that provide services, but there are a wide range of problems causing people to be homeless, Barnes said. Some people aren't willing to use the shelters, preferring to use gifted camping gear to stay outside. Some of the people who are homeless have jobs and money, Barnes said, and many of them have significant addiction and alcohol problems.
Police are spending a lot of time and resources responding to calls related to people who are homeless. City employees need direction from the City Council, Barnes said. They are camping in city parks, sleeping in parking ramps and creating encampments under a city bridge, he said.
In 2022, the city hired a homeless outreach specialist, Tracy Rieger, to help with the problem. She was made a part of the police department. She has worked many hours helping people who are homeless, but she isn't suppose to provide long-term guidance. There often is no one to continue follow-ups with the people she helps, Barnes said.
Fire department, city parks share concerns
Wausau Fire Chief Bob Barteck said his department gets regular calls concerning people who are homeless. When the weather is cold, calls come in because they see people who are homeless building fires. He asked the attendees at the special council meeting if it's below zero outside, are firefighters suppose to tell people trying to keep warm they have to put their fires out?
The Wausau Fire Department also gets a lot of calls from people who are homeless with medical issues or from people who see someone who is homeless and think the person needs help, Barteck said. Many people who are homeless have chronic medical conditions and are using the ambulance service as a kind of default medical plan, he said.
The city of Madison has created a community care paramedic who works with frequent ambulance patients, Barteck said. They work with the patients by working out plans for medication, falls prevention and other problems that lead to frequent ambulance trips to the emergency room.
Wausau and Marathon County Parks Director Jamie Polley said the parks staff recently took three one-ton truckloads of garbage out of the parks in the downtown area during three days. She's worked with the police department to install cameras and lights in the gazebo, but there are still problems with people sleeping in it. There has been a big problem with vandalism to the bathrooms near the whitewater kayak area, she said
Barnes, Barteck and Polley all asked for guidance on what to do about city ordinances that don't allow people to camp in city and county parks. The county park ordinances have been set up to mirror those in the city, Polley said. If ordinances don't allow camping in parks, then that should apply to everyone. If not, the City Council should change the ordinances, they said.
Community groups share how they are helping
Juli Birkenmeier, community services analyst for the Wausau Community Development Authority, said her department provides affordable housing for low-income people with money coming from sources other than city taxpayers. A staff of eight serve 383 participants, she told the council. They operate Riverview Towers and Riverview Terrace, which serve people with disabilities and the elderly. They also run voucher programs to help low-income residents find places to live. The programs pay 70% of the rent and the low-income participants pay 30%, Birkenmeier said.
There are limits to how much money the agency gets and how many people it can serve, Birkenmeier said. They opened for applications for three weeks last July and got a list of 585 people who needed help. The list was down to 231 people Tuesday, she said. Verified people who are homeless go to the top of the list, she said.
Sandra Kelch, founder and executive director of the Community Outreach Program, said the community has lost several people to homelessness during the past year. The average lifespan of someone who is homeless is 50 years, she said. Wausau is doing a good job with people who are newly or occasionally homeless, but not with people who are chronically homeless, she said.
More: A Vietnam vet died alone, homeless in Rib Mountain. Here is his story.
Nationwide, about 15% to 20% of people who are homeless are chronically homeless, Kelch said. They have significant issues that usually can be traced to complex and untreated trauma. This group uses 50% to 60% of the resources for people who are homeless, Kelch said. They can cost between $20,000 and $50,000 in emergency medical services alone, she said. They also tend to get caught up a cycle of being in and out of jail, and a large number of people who are homeless have alcohol and drug addictions, she said.
Kelch said one way to get people who are homeless out of the city's parks and parking ramps is to create a "tiny home village." The small structures cost about $2,200 to build, less with donated money. The village gives a person who is homeless a chance to be with the community they've developed while being homeless. Often, they consider the other people who are homeless that they've gotten to know as family, Kelch said.
The Wausau City Council can instruct the police to clear the people out of the city's parks and parking structures, but the council also needs to tell the police where to take the people, Kelch said. She also suggested the city consider finding a partner and reopening the McClellan House, a former transitional home that closed.
What are the next steps for the city?
The council members left the meeting with a list of items to take up in committees, including the possibility of a community care paramedic, changing city ordinances to ban alcohol in parks other than for special events, reviving the McClellan House and giving city departments guidance on what to do about city ordinances that affect people who are homeless. Kilian recommended making a weather-resistant list of the agencies that provide services to people who are homeless that can be handed out to people in need.
Alderman Doug Diny also suggested the city look into money sources to help business owners who have to pay for repairs to their property because of damage caused by people who are homeless.
The important thing is to keep the conversation between the different levels of government and nonprofit groups involved with the homeless going, Kelch said.
More: This Wausau teen repairs iPhones. Will he one day be making their replacements?
Contact Karen Madden at (715) 345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33
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This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Wausau gives renewed attention to persistent issue of homelessness
