'Why try to hide us now?': Homeless people say they are being told to move for the RNC
David James Porter has a deadline.
The 54-year-old man has been staying in a tent in downtown Milwaukee, across from the city's Intermodal station where Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains come and go.
He and others who camp there say they have been told to leave by Saturday, one day before events begin for the Republican National Convention — or face possible arrest by Milwaukee police.
"How do you lock up a homeless person for being homeless?" Porter said.
Porter has been staying there for the past three weeks, near the convention’s outer “vehicle screening” perimeter that extends to Clybourn Street.
Several individuals staying in tents, including Porter, told the Journal Sentinel they were asked to leave the area before the RNC. Others living out of their cars in I-94 park-and-rides in southern Milwaukee County said they had received a similar message.
About 100 people are homeless downtown and the adjacent area, according to Milwaukee County.
Representatives for the county, which has won national accolades for using a "Housing First" model, denied telling people they needed to move or leave the area. They said outreach workers do not have the authority to remove people from any location and referred questions to the Milwaukee Police Department.
"Our purview and our charges is trying to get them indoors," said Eric Collins-Dyke, deputy administrator for Milwaukee County Housing Services, in an interview. "We're not in charge of asking people to leave. That's just objectively inaccurate information."
In response to a reporter's question, the Milwaukee Police Department said: "MPD has made contact with unhoused individuals and provided resources to assist them in finding housing. We are not aware of any officers messaging otherwise."
Porter said six tents were in the area before police arrived at 6 a.m. one day last week. Only his and another tent remained on Friday. He and the other man, Daniel King, plan to stay.
"We have our property in there," King said. "I haven't gone to go get breakfast because I'm waiting for them to come."
On Thursday, a county outreach worker who was cleaning up an abandoned tent under the freeway told a Journal Sentinel reporter that the county was suggesting people leave the area. The outreach worker, who gave her card to the reporter, has not responded to follow-up calls from the Journal Sentinel.
On Friday, Alexis, who asked to share only her first name, told the Journal Sentinel that the county asked her to leave her tent by Saturday and placed her name on a waiting list for housing
She had a business card from the same outreach worker the Journal Sentinel encountered a day earlier.
Shelters step in to support unhoused people
Street Angels, a mobile homeless outreach organization based in Milwaukee, delivers meals and survival gear to the entire county three nights a week.
On Thursday, the agency included flyers to spread the word about the 24-hour reception center at the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center, 1220 W. Vliet St.
The county, city and Continuum of Care partners will open the center on Sunday to assist the area's unhoused population and victims of sex trafficking, according to a memo sent from the county to law enforcement, homeless outreach organizations and RNC vendors.
People can cool down from the summer heat, drink water and eat food at the center, which also has 20 to 30 cots, Collins-Dyke said.
The center plans to direct people to St. Ben's Community Meal for overnight stays, which is offering 40 cots for men and 20 cots for women, Collins-Dyke said.
Shelly Sarasin, the co-founder and director of Street Angles, said she anticipated homeless people downtown would be pushed out of the area for the RNC. She says the same thing happened in 2020 ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which turned into a mostly virtual event because of the pandemic.
"This isn't new," Sarasin said. "That's why there's been such a push to get people out of sight from park and rides and other safe spaces. It's to make us look a little bit better, but it won't change anyone's situation."
Homeless people were also removed from the downtown area in Cleveland, Ohio, when the RNC was held there in 2016, according to ABC News in Cleveland.
People living at park and rides say they feel pressure to leave, too
Within the one week that Bernadette Niemczynski has stayed at a park and ride on College Avenue, she says she's seen unmarked Wisconsin Department of Transportation vehicles and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's squads three times.
At one point, six sheriff's squad cars showed up, she said.
"They want us to leave but don't tell us where to go," Niemczynski said.
A DOT spokesman denied the agency was citing people and towing vehicles because of the RNC.
It's a plan that's been in motion for several months because of "safety and sanitary concerns," said Trevor Fannon.
Niemczynski said she and her husband started sleeping at the park and ride to save money to cover rental applications and a security deposit.
The DOT threatened to cite her the next time they see her tent, she said. A DOT employee gave her a phone number for a county outreach worker. She said she's called and texted but heard nothing back.
"The RNC is coming here, and they just want everybody out," Niemczynski said. "They don't want Milwaukee to look so bad, but you got to be truthful. This is what people are going through."
Sonia, who didn't want to give her last name, has been living in her Honda Civic with her husband and two dogs at the same park and ride for three months.
The pandemic brought financial hardship and her husband recently lost his job, she said. They fell behind on rent and were evicted.
When they first went to the park and ride, more people were staying there, she said. Fewer people stuck around when the DOT and the sheriff started showing up weekly to tow people's vehicles and pass out citations.
"Homelessness is everywhere," she said. "Why try to hide us now?"
Editor's note, July 13: This story has been updated to clarify the estimated number of people who are homeless in the downtown and adjacent area. The original number had been provided by a Milwaukee County representative.
Ashley Luthern of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Gina Castro is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be reached at gcastro@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Homeless people say they are being moved for the 2024 Milwaukee RNC
