Jerica Edith has been living in a camper at a Park & Ride next to the interstate in Milwaukee for the past six months after being evicted from her apartment.
She couldn’t afford rent, and now with an eviction on her record, it’s even harder to find an affordable place to live.
“I got a job, but it’s not enough to make ends meet. I need help,” Edith said.
Stay informed on the latest news
Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.
“I want to watch TV and take a shower like normal people instead of going to Planet Fitness,” she added.
Edith’s story is not an uncommon one in Milwaukee — homeless outreach workers say they’ve seen an increase in homeless encampments across the area.
Eric Collins-Dyke, the assistant administrator of supportive housing and homeless services for Milwaukee County, said the homeless population at Park & Rides has grown in the past few months.
“It’s starting to spread out quite a bit, in addition to the few sort of larger encampments,” Collins-Dyke said, “and pretty rapidly.”
There’s also a larger homeless encampment that has sprung up outside of a men’s only homeless shelter near downtown Milwaukee.
Steve Bauer, CEO of Guest House of Milwaukee, said he started to see tents pop up in the nonprofit’s garden in June. But as the weeks went on, Bauer said the number of tents increased — he estimated around 65 people were living in the encampment at one point.
Bauer also mentioned incidents of violence and drug activity at the encampment, as he said at least one overdose occurred there. That prompted a notice to vacate the site, which was handed out to people living there.
“So it was that increased security risk and safety risk — not only for the folks in the encampment, but also the clients of Guest House and the surrounding neighbors — that we had to finally pull the plug, make the announcement to ask the folks to please leave by Oct. 12,” Bauer said.
On Friday, the nonprofit sent another notice to residents.
“There will be a major clean-up on Oct. 13 starting at 8am that will include trash removal, removal of abandoned tents, and clearing of a great deal of brush, overgrown vegetation and the existing raised bed gardens,” the notice said.
Bauer said the homeless shelter has space for around 86 men, but they’re at capacity. He also said the vast majority of people in the encampment are “peaceful and are just looking for a place to live.”
“We’re not going to force anybody out of the space, but we’re doubling our efforts to try to get folks into housing and shelter,” he said.
Carl Scott, who said he’s been homeless for several years, has been living at that encampment for two months.
“I thought eviction was a little harsh,” Scott said Friday morning.
Scott said he’s been in touch with homeless outreach workers who have been trying to help him, but he hasn’t been able to find permanent housing yet.
“What are they going to do, put the homeless guy out in the street?” Scott said about the notice to vacate.
Bauer said the nonprofit is trying to find more space inside the shelter to allow around five to 10 men from the encampment to come into the shelter.
The issue comes as the homeless population has been increasing across the state.
A March Wisconsin Policy Forum report found there were 4,861 people across the state experiencing homelessness in 2023, a 1.8 percent increase from the previous year. In Milwaukee County, the number of unhoused people had risen from 817 in 2021 to 1,056 in 2023, according to federal data.
“The encampments that we’ve seen in our garden, and around the city, in the Park & Rides around town, are the results of a number of different things that are stacked against folks,” Bauer said.
Homeless outreach workers with the county have increased their efforts at the encampment in recent weeks. Collins-Dyke said workers has helped 25 people at the encampment get into shelter so far.
Collins-Dyke said the county has been seeing more people who are experiencing homelessness for one or two months. That includes people who have full-time jobs but are having trouble finding affordable housing.
“The individuals that we’re serving at the encampment and that we’re connected with all want housing. They all want to get get indoors,” Collins-Dyke said.
Eric Tars, the senior policy director for the National Homelessness Law Center, said the issue is growing because of “larger systemic issues.”
“The bottom line of the situation is that we’re only in this situation because of the artificial scarcity imposed on an organization like the shelter (Guest House) to not have enough resources to be able to bring those people inside in the first place,” Tars said.
According to a December 2022 Milwaukee County memo, there are around 70,000 families in Milwaukee County that earn $15 per hour or less. But only about 30,000 rental homes are available for $650 a month or less.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
