David Michael Miller
The Salvation Army shelter for women and families will remain open. “It’s a needed service,” says Melissa Sorensen, director of social services. “We can’t close our doors.”
Families approved for a night’s stay at the Salvation Army on East Washington Avenue sign in at the shelter at 4 p.m., with dinner served at 4:30. The next morning, they must be out by 8.
Normally, children would be heading to school around that time. But now that classes are canceled to prevent the spread of COVID-19, families already stressed by the lack of stable housing need to figure out other plans.
“With schools being closed it’s difficult for families who are working, especially being homeless,” says Melissa Sorensen, executive director of social services for the Salvation Army of Dane County. “As things slowly are closing, it’s really making it hard for folks to have a place to go.”
Some families go to The Beacon, Dane County’s day shelter on East Washington Avenue, which has a small family room, notes Sorensen. Some go to stay with family and friends. But even places that are traditionally open and welcoming during the day, including Madison’s public libraries and the Madison Children’s Museum, are now closed.
As of March 2019, there were 3,269 homeless children and youth enrolled in the Madison school district, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction data. Finding additional day options for these children and their families is a priority. “That is being processed and talked about,” says Sorensen. An ad hoc group of city, county and state officials, shelter providers, and other nonprofit groups has been holding conference calls to address the issue, adds Sorensen. “We are trying to problem-solve to make sure that some of our most vulnerable community members are being taken care of.”
The Salvation Army typically houses 22 families who stay in individual rooms, and 45 women without children, who sleep on beds in a large gymnasium space.
Staying open all day is not feasible, says Sorensen. “We have a very old building that was never meant to be a shelter. Having recreational spaces and larger spaces to accommodate [all-day occupation] is very difficult in this building.”
There is also not enough staff for such a change and meals would be a problem. “Currently we don’t serve lunch,” says Sorensen.
She says the facility is following safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control for shelters. Cleaning has been upped and more hand sanitizers installed around the building. Families now eat at different times from the women who are sheltering without children. The shelter is also trying to distance the women 6 feet from each other and implement foot-to-head sleeping. But that, adds Sorensen, might affect how many people they are able to accommodate.
The social services and case management services offered by the Salvation Army out of the East Washington facility will continue to operate, says Sorensen. “Services are not ceasing at this end. Case managers will continue to work with folks — families in housing and in shelters — to problem solve.”
And the shelter will stay open, despite widespread closings among other types of facilities.
“It’s a needed service,” says Sorensen. “We can’t close our doors.”
Kristin Rucinski, executive director of The Road Home Dane County, anticipates that the most vulnerable families will get hit on multiple fronts in the coming weeks. “Now it’s all about the children,” she says, noting school closings. “Next week I’m sure it will turn more toward food insecurity.” Many families receive their FoodShares benefits at the beginning of the month, explains Rucinski, so supplies will likely be running low. The following week, says Rucinski, “the worry will turn to April rent.”
The Road Home helps homeless families find stable and affordable housing; the nonprofit also runs 30 units of supported housing in Madison. Rucinski says the group’s office is staying open with limited staff to continue to assist families and to allow for donations to come in — cleaning supplies, grocery gift cards — but hours are cut to 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (or by appointment). Donations can also be made online.
The organization also provides housingcase management services to the Healing House, a shelter run by Madison-area Urban Ministry that houses homeless families who are recovering from a medical condition or surgery.
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, Road Home volunteers would cook and deliver meals for residents of Healing House and socialize with the families and children there. Volunteers are still dropping off dishes that can be cooked and served at the shelter by MUM staff, but are no longer spending time in the shelter.
“Now with community spread [of the virus], we just don’t know who might have been exposed but is asymptomatic,” says Linda Ketcham, executive director of MUM. The shelter is also restricting other visitors and asking residents to only go out for essential appointments.
“We are doing what we can but I think this is going to require massive community support,” says Ketcham, noting that local response has been swift.
“I’m incredibly grateful that we live in a state, city and county where the leadership is taking this seriously and is moving quickly and aggressively to try to level the curve.”
To protect individuals experiencing homelessness, efforts are being made to temporarily relocate people at higher risk for COVID-19 from shelters, says Casey Becker, communications and homeless services manager at Dane County Department of Human Services. She says this group includes people 60 and older, individuals with underlying health conditions, those with weakened immune systems and women who are pregnant.
Jim O’Keefe, who heads the city’s office of community development, says such a move would also “reduce the strain on shelter facilities.” Housing these high-risk individuals temporarily in hotel rooms is one option, he says.
Becker says the county has also pledged additional funds to the Salvation Army to help with its case management program and is looking to place additional handwashing stations and portable toilets in various locations where people may be sleeping outside. She says the county is also working to provide additional funds to help families facing eviction. (As of March 17, Dane County Circuit Court had suspended all eviction proceedings.)
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway noted some other steps being taken by the city at the March 17 meeting of the Common Council Executive Committee, including expanding shelter capacity so that social distancing can take place there. “And we’re working on a health screening protocol for shelters so that when people come in, they can be screened about their health and if they present with symptoms, there’s a protocol for dealing with that. And we’re working on isolation options for anybody who is symptomatic in the homeless shelter system.”
O’Keefe says there are also efforts afoot to provide support to child care providers in Madison and Dane County that would “help them stay open and, in some cases, expand the number of children they are serving to accommodate parents who are particularly stressed” by the impacts of the pandemic.
Officials are also searching for spaces that could be set up to provide daytime services or programming for families. “There is tremendous pressure on The Beacon,” says O’Keefe. “Ideally we’d like to free that facility from needing to work with families, so we’re going to need to find space and people that can provide some type of programming. We also need to connect families with meals.”
Rucinski, of Road Home, says her organization has been asked to help provide staffing for such a space and has already started putting out feelers for “anybody who is young and healthy who would want that volunteer opportunity. There is a huge need for that.”
Editor's note: Developments relating to COVID-19 are evolving quickly. Please note that any information in this article is subject to change.
