As temperatures plunge and winter sets in, homeless shelters in Milwaukee are filling up, and people who need help could be left out in the cold.
Until three years ago, many homeless people faced getting tickets from the Milwaukee Police Department. Now those same individuals are interacting with specially trained officers who guide them to resources.
The six officers on the department's Homeless Outreach Team, a part-time assignment added to regular duties, primarily work in Police District 1. The team will expand next year, with 30 additional officers receiving training in January and taking the concept citywide.
Outreach officers carry basic supplies, such as socks, and build relationships with homeless people and the agencies that serve them, said Lt. Karen Dubis, who created the team with Capt. Stephen Basting in 2010.
Nearly all of the homeless team officers have crisis intervention training, a 40-hour course that teaches officers to recognize signs of mental illness and to interact with those individuals. New team members will be mentored by veterans of the program.
Homelessness has been a challenge in District 1, which covers Milwaukee's downtown, lakefront and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The area contains about 60% to 70% of the city's homeless population, Dubis said.
It was after participating in a national Problem-Oriented Policing Conference that Dubis brought back new ideas to address the city's homeless population.
"When somebody is urinating in public, it definitely is a problem, but if this person is intoxicated and homeless, instead of issuing a citation, we should hear their story of how they got where they were at that moment," Dubis said.
On a recent afternoon shift, Officer Eric Ratzmann scanned downtown streets and doorways, looking for people who could be homeless and checking on those he's worked with before.
He spied a man wearing several hooded sweatshirts hunkered in a bus stop at the corner of N. 4th St. and W. Wisconsin Ave. He parked and walked over to ask if there was anything the man needed.
Ratzmann learned the man's name -- Dale Pavlenko. He has been homeless for 10 years.
"In the winter, all the shelters fill up fast," Pavlenko said, when Ratzmann asked if he had a place to stay that night.
Pavlenko said that, during the week before when temperatures reached single-digit highs, he had slept near the heating vents of the Police Administration Building, just blocks away from where he stood talking to the officer.
Ratzmann ducked back into his SUV to retrieve his business card.
"If you want to get more aggressive with finding a place, come and see us. We can help you," Ratzmann said as he handed the card to Pavlenko. The officer asked if he knew where to get free meals, and the man nodded.
"I've been doing this for a while," Pavlenko said. "You kind of figure it out."
Ratzmann has met people who are homeless for a variety of reasons: alcohol or drug abuse, mental health struggles, loss of a job or an unexpected illness.
Many people who are homeless defy stereotypes, he said.
He recalled a couple who camped out on the city's near south side. Their clothes were neat, their campsite tidy and they both had full-time jobs. They just couldn't afford an apartment.
In January, 1,449 people were counted in the Point in Time survey of the homeless conducted by the Milwaukee Continuum of Care.
Point In Time surveys have shown that total homelessness has declined nationwide by more than 9% since 2007 but has increased 8.1% in that same time period in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Ken Schmidt, executive director of Hope House, a shelter for individuals and families, says he's noticed the increase.
"The economy has been really stubborn," he said. "A lot of the folks in shelters, a good percentage of them, work. We just find that folks are having a harder time competing when times are tough."
The sheer number of people applying for jobs can force overqualified people to apply for entry-level jobs, whereas in better economic times those individuals could have higher-paying jobs and afford housing, Schmidt said.
This winter, families are doubling and tripling up in homes, while local shelters are opening up overflow warming centers. With the growing need and dropping temperatures, the partnership with Milwaukee police has been beneficial, he said.
Schmidt praised the department for developing a program absent pressure from homeless advocates or the public.
"They did it on their own," he said.
Copyright 2013 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
