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Resident urges Kenosha County to create emergency shelter fund, boost Shalom Center amid federal cuts
Summary
Marita Huff, a District 8 resident, asked the Kenosha County Board to create a human services contingency fund and increase funding for the Shalom Center, citing recent increases in people living outdoors and cuts to federal rent, utility and food assistance.
Marita Huff of District 8 urged the Kenosha County Board to create a human services contingency fund and increase funding for the Shalom Center, saying federal cuts to rent, utility and food assistance are driving more people into homelessness.
"The federal government cut rent and utility support funds and food share. This will cause more people to be evicted, leading to more people outside," Huff told the board during the citizen-comment portion of the meeting.
Huff cited a July point-in-time count conducted in the middle of the night that she said found 57 people living outside — "nearly three times the usual number" recorded in the twice-yearly count — and described increases she has seen in people living in vehicles. She said a local church-run assistance program gave 67 gas cards from January to September last year, 14 to people living in cars; this year during the same period it gave 125 cards, 46 to people living in cars, "some with children." "That's the kind of increases that we're seeing," she said.
Huff described efforts by Kenosha Human Development Services (KHDS) to place people in motel rooms during two recent winters but said the agency could not house everyone. She said one 50-year-old man suffered frostbite and had toes amputated after not knowing to seek available shelter. She said the county's public warming center was open only intermittently last winter and that local volunteer capacity and budgets are strained.
A coalition Huff identified as SOS (Supporters of Shelter) aims to recruit volunteers, support the Shalom Center and educate the public about people living outdoors, she said. Huff asked the county's human services director and the board's budget committee to verify her observations before the board finalizes its budget and encouraged the board and county executive to increase shelter funding and create an emergency fund.
Huff said the effort is feasible, pointing to a night shelter in Appleton that she said houses 60 people and was created through cooperation among local officials and churches. "It takes a will," she said.
Ending: Huff closed by asking the board to consider the human and public-health risks of people sleeping outdoors and to review the evidence before budget decisions are finalized.
