Damakant Jayshi
The Wausau Salvation Army will shift to a family-only shelter and will move individual men out by April 26, a move that comes two months after the organization discontinued serving individual women.
No new individual men are being accepted into the Salvation Army’s nighttime shelter in the interim. Community Outreach Specialist Tracy Rieger, during her monthly briefing on homelessness, informed Wausau’s Public Health and Safety Committee Monday of the change.
The agency will host a family-only shelter consisting of three rooms. One room will serve four people while another can hold six. The largest of the three rooms can serve a large family, she said.
Rieger said the organization has been sheltering anywhere between 13 and 15 individual men who will be affected by the change. Responding to questions by Wausau Police Chief Matt Barnes, Rieger said the Salvation Army is “working hard to get them in a different place.”
The total shelter capacity currently at The Salvation Army’s shelter is 28, with 18 bunks for men in the largest room, and the other two being family rooms with 10 total bunks. Once the change takes place, the nonprofit will still be serving 28 people but as part of families, Rieger said.
Wausau Pilot has reached out to Salvation Army officials seeking information on what prompted the change.
Committee Chair Lisa Rasmussen said the change will likely put pressure on other shelters, such as the Bridge Street Mission and Catholic Charities. Rieger agreed.
Rieger said Catholic Charities nighttime warming shelter was at or over capacity last month. The shelter has a capacity of 30, though that can expend to 40 if temperatures fall below 15 degrees.
In January, Catholic Charities turned away 70 people due to capacity limits, Rieger said. The Salvation Army turned away 29 people. Of those, 14 men were turned away due to criminal record reasons. Ten people from three families and three individual women were also turned away for capacity reasons, while two men were also turned away for reasons that were unclear.
Rieger said that Salvation Army does background checks on those seeking shelter and turns away those with some criminal histories because families are being served there. Catholic Charities does not have such requirements.
Limited daytime shelter is now available, with Catholic Charities day center operational five days a week. The day shelter is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to Nathan Turajski, Wausau Regional Director for Catholic Charities. The center opened Jan. 2 with staff and volunteers still being sought.
Turajski said their goal is to expand the operation to seven days a week.
