CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Wausau will spend $400,000 on its homeless problem. I’m not sure if it will work, or if the money is going to the right entity.
I hope I’m wrong. This is the city’s last-best chance to address the issue.
My first concern is that this is one-time money, an ARPA grant that expires in 2026. This funding is unlikely to become an ongoing expense for the city. It would have to be paid out of general tax revenue, where it would compete with all the other things the city spends money on. Given this years rise in property taxes from revaluation, the appetite for another increase next year is small.
Second, the money is going to the Wausau Police Department. I’m not sure they’re the right group. Police are indeed on the front lines of the homelessness issue, and they have done good work connecting the homeless population to services that are available. But the homeless and police don’t trust each other. Police also have the unenviable job of taking down illegal homeless encampments, and enforcing normal rules of conduct for the homeless who struggle with addiction and mental health issues.
So my questions are this: What specifically is the money being used for? Does it address the immediate needs, like a lack of shelter and a lack of beds for treatment? Would charities who already shelter the homeless be better able to use this money? What is the long-term plan when this money runs out?
I’ve long thought that a part of the solution is a family unification program. Everyone who is homeless has someone – a parent, a child, a family member or a friend – who does have a roof over their head. I’d like to see social workers reach out to those people to see if they could take the homeless in, especially during the winter. If that person is out of town, we should give the homeless a bus ticket to wherever that is. Some say we’d be exporting our homeless to somewhere else. That’s not quite right, we’re sending our homeless to somewhere to be housed. That’s the humane solution.
Chris Conley
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