Safer at Home, Safer in Shelter

Homeless Resources Bear the Pressure of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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While the city stands frozen under the COVID-19 pandemic and Governor Tony Evers’ extended safer-at-home order, social services for Milwaukee’s homeless continue to work hard under federal, state and local guidance. Shelters are retaining their guests and some meal sites are still open. Case managers, outreach workers and care coordinators work with the Milwaukee County Housing Division and the City of Milwaukee Health Department to keep those with nowhere to go housed, those with symptoms isolated in a safe place and to make sure those in housing stay there.

Many shelters, like the Guest House of Milwaukee, must limit new entries while they face social distancing challenges inside their dormitories. Staff that can work remotely does so now. Both shelter staff and guests have their temperatures taken. Individuals who are elderly or have compromised immune systems have been sent to Clare Hall, which the Health Department began managing at the end of last month.

“What a lot of people might not even think about, not that they wouldn’t consider us essential workers, we really are,” says Amy Rowell, the Director of Fund Development at the Guest House. Their dormitories house 86 men across three different programs at 1216 N. 13th St.

“We’re providing emergency shelter and providing services to people in the community. These are very much essential services,” Rowell continues. “Not in the same way as our healthcare professionals, obviously, but shelter is a potential healthcare crisis.”

Limited Numbers

The shelter decided to limit individuals coming in and out a few weeks ago and most staff works remotely. One of their three dormitories have been converted to an isolation area to house guests with coronavirus symptoms without infecting the rest of the building. Because social distancing is a challenge with limited space, Rowell said that shelter guests sleep head to toe in their bunks now. Daily temperature checks are performed both on staff and guests as well.

The Guest House also supports around 1,000 individuals in the community who need extra support to stay housed. “That’s what takes more effort and energy than our on-site emergency shelter,” Rowell says. “We usually connect them to community-based resources, because that’s what’s best for their independence.”

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Some individuals suffer from mental illness and can’t enter the community safely on their own, so Guest House performs outreach. Outreach workers deliver nonperishable food items, hygiene supplies and clothing. They also deliver things like jigsaw puzzles, art supplies and reading books.

“We’re serving a lot of individuals that have high barriers through their mental health status, what we don’t want is individuals sitting around all day watching the news.” Rowell says. “We want them positively engaging their mind.” According to Rowell, art supplies and puzzles make the difference between people maintaining their wellness or potentially not.

In the Milwaukee Rescue Mission on 19th and Wells, the same precautions are taken to halt the spread of COVID-19. Masks and temperature checks between shifts are mandatory for staff. Guests in the men’s shelter sleep head to toe and new guests are quarantined for four days before being admitted. “We’re also sanitizing like crazy,” says Patrick Vanderburgh, president of the Rescue Mission.

Like at the Guest House of Milwaukee, Rescue Mission moved at-risk clients to Clare Hall in late March. “[The Health Department] created a resource for us to get our more vulnerable clients out of here and to somewhere they can be safe through the worst part of the pandemic,” Vanderburgh explains. “They’re also a resource for us for symptomatic clientele.” At least one guest had tested positive for COVID-19 after being moved out.

In early April, Vanderburgh and his wife were in a call with the executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. “We spent half an hour with him going over best practices,” he said, “And he’s like, well, here’s the thing we’re concerned about for large shelters: If the virus gets into your shelter in a big way, you’d have the potential of taking down two or three hospitals.”

To limit this risk, Rescue Mission has limited access to its shelters. “We’re taking new clients in our Joy House [the women and children’s shelter],” Vanderburgh says, “We have the capacity to take them in and quarantine them for four days, and if they’re not symptomatic we can move them into a room.” Rescue Mission is working with the Health Department and the shelter task force to find space for single men seeking shelter.

“We’re really limited and that’s where we’re concerned. We’re concerned about people who are struggling with mental illness or addiction.” Like Guest House, Rescue Mission runs a residential program that serves residents who graduated from the shelter and entered the community. He said he’s worried the pandemic will have unintended consequences for them.

Staying Optimistic

Despite facing hurdles, Vanderburgh says that staff and clients in the shelter are feeling optimistic. “It’s hard for everybody,” he says, “And it’s hard for our clients because they’re not used to being cooped up all day, but the attitudes have overall been great.”

The Guest House and the Rescue Mission are two of the 120 programs working with the Health Department—which has offered space, advice or both to shelter, outreach and food services. One month ago, the Health Department opened Clare Hall in the St. Francis de Sales Seminary. The department also manages a Super 8 hotel in Milwaukee which receives people from hospital systems, but the hotel doesn’t exclusively house the homeless. Using the hotel frees up space for local hospitals while isolating those with mild COVID-19 symptoms.

“Early on, anyone with symptoms needed to isolate within their shelters, but that was taking space,” says Dr. Nick Tomaro, the emergency preparedness coordinator for the city Health Department. “We’re trying to provide safe housing to those that need to isolate or quarantine. Or in the case of Clare Hall, we’re trying to provide a safe environment for folks with unstable housing that haven’t been effected by the virus.

“It’s not a care facility,” Tomaro adds. “There’s staff there to assess if there is a problem, and if there is a problem then those people will be transported to a healthcare facility.” The National Guard’s medical staff is on-site at both Clare Hall and Super 8 as medical oversight, while the County Housing Division is there to get occupants connected to housing.

James Mathy, a housing administrator for the County Housing Division, said he’s spent most of his days at Clare Hall when it was opened. “One of the small silver linings of what we’re dealing with is the people coming here need a lot of assistance, and we’re able to talk to them while they’re here and come up with housing plans,” he says. Many guests are over the age of 60, making them eligible for senior housing. The Housing Division works with them to complete applications and find units during their stay.

The Housing Division is continuing outreach service during the pandemic, and workers go out in gloves and masks. “One of the complicating factors with all of that is transportation,” Mathy says. “Before COVID, our outreach workers were working on the street, taking people into our outreach vans and getting where they need to be. With COVID that has become more challenging.”

Instead of shelters, outreach workers are taking homeless individuals to hotels. “A lot of shelters right now are leery, for good reasons, to take new admissions,” Mathy explains. “That’s why we’ve pivoted to use hotels and that’s been phenomenal to offer individuals that, when they may have otherwise needed to go to a homeless shelter.”

While the Housing Division reports that Clare Hall is well below capacity, Mathy warns that there could be a surge in residents. “It’s a very vulnerable population here so [capacity] can change by the day for the individuals we serve here.”

Meals for the Homeless

The Gathering of Southeast Wisconsin hosts a weekly meal site at the Running Rebels Community Organization building (1300 W. Fond Du Lac Ave.) and three other locations. In the middle of April, they faced the possibility of closing after losing support from one of its partners. “One of our partners, the Hunger Task Force, feels like it’s not an essential program,” says Lyn Hildenbrand, Executive Director of the meal sites.

Fortunately, the sites have stayed open under the guidance and oversight of the Health Department. “Service has changed from clients sitting down with hot meals to getting their food to go,” says Hildenbrand. The Gathering is also taking social distancing measures and using personal protection equipment during service.

“We’re serving more people between 80-100 people every single day,” she said. “A lot of people have told us this was their first time there. And we’ve seen more women and children since this pandemic has started.”

Hildenbrand adds that her staff is positive despite having to cut most of their volunteers. “They all want to serve,” she said. “They 100 percent want to be there and want to feed folks, because that’s why we’re here.”