On Thursday night, the food pantry of Madison's First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Ave. offered assistance to those city residents struggling to provide their families with a meal. Many of them, homeless and without a steady income, rely on the church for food, although the sustenance does little to address the greater problems of their monetary and residency status.
\What we're doing here is just helping people that need a little help getting food on the table,"" said one volunteer. ""But I don't think the pantry, in providing food, can really help with the homeless situation in general.""
A similar attitude pervades many of the other food pantries in Madison. Sue Clement, a volunteer at the pantry of Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Ave., agreed that for the homeless of Madison, the charitable locations provide temporary relief at best.
""I don't think [the food pantries] are helping at all,"" Clement said. ""We're just helping [the homeless] along, as far as not having them eat out of dumpsters. ... From what I see of people coming in, there's no long-term fix to this situation.""
Judging by these pessimistic attitudes, the prevention of homelessness in Madison may appear to be impossible. The solution, it seems, must come from a multilateral cooperation of all Madison city residents and institutions.
Significant efforts are being made in this direction. Madison organizations like Porchlight and Hospitality House provide shelter and minor monetary aid to those without a home, and places like the Tenant Resource Center offer education to current low-income renters on how to avoid eviction as a preventative measure against homelessness. These locations also create opportunities to help directly combat the problem through volunteer work.
The most important method of homeless prevention, however, is students and community members educating themselves and speaking out about local legislation, according to Susan Kidd-Webster, UW-Madison social work lecturer. This includes lobbying for mandatory low-income housing, rent subsidies and a higher minimum wage.
""I think just becoming knowledgeable about the issue of affordable housing and being an advocate for things like inclusionary zoning and Section 8 housing vouchers-those are the primary things that need to happen,"" Kidd-Webster said.
Another facet of preventative measures against homelessness is combating addiction and substance abuse. Many people, Kidd-Webster pointed out, are placed on waiting lists at anti-addiction programs and subsequently become homeless when they lack access to help.
""It's important to keep core human services strong,"" said Kidd-Webster. ""We need to ... [work] to keep people from falling in upstream rather than just trying to pull them out downstream.""
