The sub-zero temperatures in Milwaukee this week brought city resources and organizations together to help the area’s most vulnerable populations. One warming center served hundreds during the two-day stretch of extreme weather.
At the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center near King Park on Tuesday, nearly 100 guests took shelter from the extreme cold. Some ate and slept. Others sat in rows of plastic chairs to watch a movie. I asked one of the guests, Michael Wade, how he’s feeling.
"Pretty good," he said. "Just trying to keep warm and all that. Kind of frustrated trying to find housing and employment. It’s been a rough two years — been homeless for two years."
Wade said he’s visited several shelters during a stretch of time he describes as challenging. Wade shared what could help him turn things around: "I think more resources. I think more politicians helping the community out, the homeless population out. More accessible resources."
Nick Tomaro, who works with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, shared what the county’s mission is: "Our focus was knowing we had this really profound weather emergency in terms of the extreme temperatures. Making sure that those people who are staying with us overnight in the overnight warming shelters had a place to be definitely during the day. We actually had transportation help from Milwaukee County Transit Service and the fire department’s Sprinter vans. They've been out for the last three days taking people, transporting people. We've had a lot of help from a lot of partners to keep people inside."
As for what happens when the center closes, Tomaro said, "We'll have two county buses here tonight to take people back to two different warming sites. Then we have the Sprinter vans take people back to St. Ben’s and then Guest House. We’re getting people safely just right down the street here."
Tomaro said shelter capacity and awareness are challenges. "Obviously, we always are concerned about having enough capacity in terms of number of people. I think the last couple days we've been able to message well and get the word out that we're here. We still have a lot of people on outreach teams out. We work a lot with first responders and get messaging out to make sure everybody knows where these daytime and nighttime shelters are."
He continued, " ... I was just in contact with one of the ER physicians at Sinai and obviously we know that a lot of people are accessing hospitals as well. We're trying to do our best to provide enough capacity so we don't have people in emergency departments just for sheltering. But in these types of weather emergencies, it's kind of all hands on deck."
Tomaro’s work in emergency sheltering started in 2020. A concerning trend, he said, is that the age of the population the county is serving is rising.
"We’ve seen a several percentage increase each year over the last three years in those accessing emergency shelter and regular shelter," Tomato said. "So, we just have a large number of people over the age of 55 that now are accessing emergency shelters."
Recently, the Administration for Community Living awarded Milwaukee with the Elder Justice Innovation Grant. The nearly $1 million grant will help support emergency and transitional housing for seniors.
And a $2 million housing assistance grant issued to the state in December will help fund 52 organizations to improve shelters, residences and provide affordable housing. A list of local shelters, hotlines and meal programs is available on the Milwaukee Health Department website.
