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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Why is Wausau seeing a surge in homelessness? The reason is obvious. You can’t live outdoors here in January. You’ll freeze to death. In April or May, the weather turns mild. It’s still no cakewalk to live under the bridge, but it’s do-able.
If you believe, as I do, that it is beneath human dignity to live on the streets, it should be made illegal. Here’s a three step plan: First, there should be a local ordinance that living outdoors is not allowed in Wausau. Second, the city’s warming centers should be open year-round, so a roof and a bed is available to everyone. Lastly, we should ask our homeless population where they go during the bitter-cold winter months. And we should offer them bus tickets back to there.
Some will howl that we are exporting our homeless problem to somewhere else. Not true. I think you’ll find that the homeless are taken in by family members or friends during the winter. Perhaps when its cold they reconcile with their adult children. Or they stay sober for awhile so their loving uncles or grandparents will take them in. When housed, those are the opportunities to get these people the social services they need.
I’m fully aware that not all family members will be thrilled that their wayward kin are being sent back to them. But the hard truth is that their well-meaning relatives weren’t willing to let them freeze to death. Now help them during the fair-weather months too.
Wausau should not be a welcoming city to the homeless. Those who are unhoused should not be allowed to make our parks or our 400-block or our riverside gazebo unusable for tax-paying residents. The homeless should not be allowed to fornicate or defecate inside our downtown parking ramps. They should not be allowed to drink from a paper bag and cat-call at passing women downtown. These behaviors are illegal; we should expect that our laws are enforced.
There are no easy solutions to homelessness. A community that offers too many services, or hands out housing vouchers or debit cards becomes a magnet for the unhoused. The good news is that Wausau’s homeless problem dwindles to almost nothing during the coldest months of the year. The message should be this: if you found warmth and shelter during the winter, make that situation work for the rest of the year. Here’s a bus ticket to get you there.
Chris Conley
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