By Damakant Jayshi and Shereen Siewert
Wausau’s Public Health and Safety Committee on Monday approved a request from the police department to add two additional officers to address growing homelessness in Wausau, though reaction has been mixed from the public.
The discussion Monday centered on questions from some alders on whether it is appropriate for police to address homelessness at all, rather than social workers who are trained to do so.
According to a memo from Barnes, the two additional officers will help connect homeless people with the resources they need but also ensure enforcement of the “laws, ordinances, and social norms.” They will be part of a team to ensure the city’s parks, library, parking ramps, new developments, and downtown are protected and a safe place to be, he said.
In February, Barnes described a different approach to homelessness that emphasizes enforcement and de-emphasizes what he described as “enabling” people to remain unhoused.
“So basically the chief wants to criminalize the symptom while ignoring the problems that have caused it,” Matthew Sann wrote. “This is the typical nonsensical response that Wausau has adopted for most of their problems. The city completely ignores the problems; instead, they focus on doing things that do not address the problem in hopes that the problem just goes away.”
“In a population where over 40% of its population lives one financial emergency away from economic ruin and homelessness, adding more police over social service , housing, and transportation support is the response of a government that prioritizes currying favor to the rich and affluent, not meeting basic needs of its people,” wrote Baggie Gray, in a Facebook response to the story posted Monday on Wausau Pilot’s page.
Several commenters discussed the cost of housing in the city, along with an ongoing lack of affordable housing that would make the “Housing First” strategy adopted by Houston and other cities successful in significantly reducing homelessness possible here.
“This whole situation makes me sick,” Missy Kaufman wrote. “We have so many empty buildings in Wausau. Why can’t even one be donated by the city to use for our homeless? One with a kitchen ..showers..space to fill out disability forms, job applications, maybe some trauma and drug abuse counseling? I mean seriously we have the spaces…I can’t imagine being on the streets in freezing temps.. not every homeless person…wants to be that way.”
As for adding shelter space, however, Barnes last month was skeptical. He said he prefers a pathway to enabling people to leave homelessness.”We would have more homeless,” he said, of the notion of adding capacity. “Those beds will fill up.”
Others on social media pointed out a potentially easy solution to one issue Barnes mentioned – the mounds of human feces shoveled from downtown parking ramps on a regular basis. Some municipalities have placed portable toilets in ramps and other spaces where homeless residents can easily access them to avoid such issues. Wausau has not.
“It does not take more than two brain cells to understand that providing toilets for those unable to use indoor facilities will decrease and even eliminate the cleaning up of human waste,” wrote one commenter. “Wausau will drive in porta potties to the 400 Block for the housed every flipping Wednesday but won’t leave them there for the unhoused to use.”
Policy vs. policing
Alder Tom Kilian, who is not a member of the Wausau Public Health and Safety Committee, suggested that homelessness is a policy issue, and the council should set a strategy instead of expecting the police to carry an additional load. He also proposed holding a meeting of the Committee of the Whole to set that policy and the strategy. That idea was backed by Alders Doug Diny and Lou Larson, though the latter said the committee should move forward with the police’s request even as they move ahead with a COW meeting.
“Absent more appropriate measures, [the police] have had to carry a lot of weight on this issue but make no mistake, we do not want to turn the police department into a social engineering department,” Kilian said.
He said the if the city has the funds to hire two police officers, those funds should be used for outreach and social services personnel.
Kilian also explicitly requested the committee not approve the two police officers.
Diny said that asking for additional officers looks a major shift in strategy.
He recalled that when the city hired Tracy Rieger as a community outreach specialist, there was discussion about whether her role should be part of the police department.
Barnes rejects the notion that police have no role in addressing homelessness. He said that police officers are not able to conduct patrols to the extent they should because they are often called at downtown to deal with complaints about behavior issues related to homeless people in the area. As for the community outreach specialist, Barnes said Rieger functions rather autonomously.
Committee Chair Lisa Rasmussen also disputed the assertion that the city’s actions represent any change in direction.
“We have always recognized that the solution is two-fold: health and enforcement,” she said.
Rasmussen also said a COW meeting to discuss the positions would only delay the process for what appears to be an urgent request.
The vote on referring the request to HR Committee was 4-1, with Diny voting no.
Transportation or deportation?
During the discussion, police chief Barnes said that nationwide homelessness is set to double in five years at this rate but in the city, it could double in five months. He said one of the contributing factors is that people from outside the area are coming in.
Rieger agreed, pointing to an “influx” from neighboring areas as well as people returning to homelessness who had previously been housed through her efforts.
She said she was told by emergency room staff at Aspirus Hospital people from outside Wausau, like Stevens Point and Eau Claire, are checking in “because of the level of care that Aspirus is able to provide.” Those people are coming for medical services. “When they are getting discharged, they are getting discharged into homelessness in our community.”
Alder Becky McElhaney said if Veyo MTM, a non-emergency medical transport service, is bringing those people to Aspirus, they should transport them back to their community after being discharged.
“That is the hospital’s responsibility…There always is a resource and I hope that their Veyo should have been scheduled by their social work at the hospital and they know how to do that,” McElhaney said. “We just can’t have people from Eau Claire discharged to Wausau or in our streets.”
Rieger said she is trying to hold discussions with the hospital staff to coordinate services prior to people being discharged, if possible, “to mitigate the problem from becoming bigger in our own community when we didn’t bring them here.”
Referring to Alder Kilian’s earlier mention of “deportation,” Rieger said it was not a matter of deportation; it is a matter of getting people back to where they actually want to go.
But Kilian was likely referring to comments made by Barnes in February when he talked about California cities that require homeless people to prove their residency or prove they went to school in the community in order to receive services.
For those who cannot prove their connection, he said, departments “arrange for transportation to return you to the community that you’re in.”
Kilian strongly objected to the idea for Wausau.
“What we are being told is…we will deport those very poor individuals who are not from town, who cannot prove they are from here, back to their city of origin,” he said. “It’s not consistent with our community value. There would be a large percentage of Wausonians across the political spectrum who would not have that.”
Rasmussen pointed one of Rieger’s “success stories” in reconnecting someone who had run away from home with a parent who desperately wanted that person back.
“It is not a matter of being cruel to someone who happened to end up in Wausau,” she said. “Sometimes there are places that people would like to return to but they don’t have the means…It is easy to vilify an effort to get someone home.”
Barnes, in his memo to the committee, acknowledged that the timing of his request is not consistent with the normal budget process. The ask also comes at a time when several standing committees have received project proposals from the city’s various departments for American Rescue Plan Act Funding, which must be committed by the end of 2024 and expended by 2026.
Barnes said his department previously had no intention to ask for additional officers – currently there are 79 – but the recent increase in criminal and negative behavior in this population and the reduction in the quality of life has created an exigency to this need. “The consequences of waiting to implement additional police resources could be catastrophic.”
“Nothing I bring forward here solves homelessness,” Barnes said. “Those things are outside my control.”
Responding to a question from Diny about the viability of the plan, the police chief said residents expect and deserve a quality of life but he cannot ensure it with the staff that the department has. With two officers working full time addressing homelessness specifically, he added, they will “see a positive impact in our downtown and will be more viable.”
After the Human Resources Committee takes a look at the proposal, the matter will head to the Finance Committee for funding sources, with the Wausau City Council making a final decision. The positions will end on Dec. 31, 2025 unless renewed by the council. The police department has sought ARPA funding for the two positions for 2024 and some other sources of funding for 2025. If the Wausau Police Department cannot find other sources of funding, the positions will be absorbed in the department through upcoming retirements, Barnes said.
