One morning this winter, John, a resident at Porchlight’s Drop-in Shelter for men, was outside when a woman came walking down the alleyway headed straight for the back door. He said she had likely been outside all night long, and wanted something for breakfast.
“I couldn’t let her in. It’s a men’s shelter,” John said. “She didn’t make the lottery.”
In years past, women would line up hours before the Salvation Army single women’s shelter opened each evening at 5 p.m., pushing and shoving for a better shot at a bed that night. Last year the Salvation Army switched to a lottery system to more fairly decide which 30 women would be sheltered each night.
“Everyone does have that equal opportunity to get a bed...whether you’re 72 or 18, whether you are in a wheelchair or can walk” said Karen Potnek, the housing coordinator at Salvation Army.
The majority of Dane County’s resources are dedicated to sheltering single men and members of families than women because they make up a majority of the homeless population. Although single women made up 16 percent of people seeking shelter in 2011, emergency shelter beds at Salvation Army’s Single Women’s Shelter only compromised 7 percent of total beds for emergency shelter in Dane County in 2011 and 2012.
Single men find themselves in a better position. These men comprised 41 percent of people seeking shelter in 2011, when 39 percent of emergency shelter beds were set aside for them. While the 2012 data detailing homeless seeking shelter has not yet been released, available beds for single men increased to 45 percent after a new overflow shelter was built in fall 2011.
Women are turned away at Salvation Army’s shelter because of the shelter’s limited space. Kim Ibrahim, a case manager at Porchlight Inc., who worked at the women’s shelter until Oct. 2012, said she once had to turn away 12 women in a single night.
With 30 beds, it is the only emergency single-women’s shelter in Dane County excluding Domestic Abuse Intervention Services which provides shelter to domestic abuse victims, some of which are single women.
Ibrahim often turned away someone each night, especially in summer when more single women tend to seek emergency shelter.
“All we can do is say no,” Potnek said. “This is their last resort.”
Members of families, defined as an adult with a minor dependent, made up 42 percent of Dane County’s homeless population in 2011, according to the City of Madison’s Annual Report on Homeless Served in Dane County.
Although homeless families have to wait for spots at Salvation Army family shelter and Young Women’s Christian Association, they can stay for up to three months upon being accepted. In addition, Salvation Army runs an overflow shelter that can shelter 16 members of families.
The Road Home’s Interfaith Hospitality Network Shelter Program also provides emergency housing for families. There are around 120 beds nightly for members of families in Dane County in addition to Salvation Army’s hotel vouchers as of 2012, and accounted for 34 percent of total beds for emergency shelter.
Salvation Army only allows more than 30 patrons inside on “cold weather nights”, when it is either below 21 degrees or considered too dangerous to be outside. In these circumstances, Salvation Army increases its staff to accept whoever needs shelter, recently up to 42 women. It uses the hallway as make-shift overflow space.
Salvation Army uses the lottery sparingly in winter because there are more cold weather nights and fewer women tend to seek shelter in winter, which Ibrahim speculates is because they arrange longer-term plans with friends or family.
In contrast, Porchlight does not deny anyone a spot during the winter months even during non- “cold weather nights.”
Men at Porchlight are allotted 60 days out of the year with the count starting Nov 1. On nights under 20 degrees, which Porchlight considers cold weather nights, they accept every man who needs shelter, including those who are otherwise banned for behavioral reasons.
Although Porchlight can technically turn a man away if it is over 20 degrees and he has used up his 60 days, Preston Patterson, the shelter’s manager, said the shelter considers November through daylight savings time a “grace period,” during which they allow men who have used up their 60 days to stay.
“Imagine us kicking people out in the cold,” Patterson said.
Porchlight’s main shelter at Grace Episcopal Church has 110 beds. With both a permanent and seasonal overflow shelter at two area churches, it has upwards of 170 beds during winter.
Porchlight has served more than 180 men on its busiest winter nights. It has not had to limit the number of men it accepts because they have the physical space necessary, unlike Salvation Army’s Single Women’s Shelter, according to Lynn Green, director of the county’s Department of Human Services.
“If we had churches that were willing to open up to [single] women ... we would be able to send them to those overflow shelters,” Green said. “But the women’s shelter system hasn’t got that capacity at this point ... It’s just never been built. It’s one of those gaps in the system.”
Rising Demands
Each year, during a January night, community programs count the homeless population as part of a program funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This January, volunteers counted 817 homeless individuals in Dane County, 718 sheltered and 99 unsheltered. The number has steadily risen each year since 2010, when volunteers counted 568 homeless individuals.
As demand for drop-in shelter rises, so do the costs to run them. But city and county funding for Salvation Army’s three shelters has remained nearly stagnant since 2010.
Salvation Army received around $866,000 in total funding from the government for its three shelters during the 2012 fiscal year. It received more from the state in 2013, but still less than it was receiving in 2010. Salvation Army received $628,000 in private donations for its housing services.
John, who did not give his last name, was a resident of Dodge County when he became homeless. He had to look elsewhere for emergency shelter because there are no emergency shelters in Dodge County that house single men. He turned to Madison after hearing he would not be turned away, and has been at Porchlight’s shelter since the end of September.
He said he is thankful to be at the shelter, but as spring creeps up, his 60-day limit may as well. Extensions are occasionally granted, but are limited.
“The obstacles I’m facing to get out of here are going to take longer than 60 days,” John said. “Once I don’t have a place to sleep or a guaranteed meal it’s going to [make] getting off the street damn near impossible for me.”
Single women at Salvation Army’s shelter are allotted 60 days out of the year beginning the first day they arrive, provided they meet with one of the two case managers on-site. Extensions are only granted if clients have signed a lease for an apartment and are waiting for move-in day.
“We have to put a line somewhere to go ahead and help those next thirty,” Potnek said.
Although hard to quantify, homeless single women, with potentially more history of domestic abuse, may come to the shelter facing deeper challenges to overcome homelessness than their male counterparts.
“Women have not necessarily more issues but maybe more volatile issues going on in their life about why they’re homeless,” Potnek said. “Their needs are so different.”
Potnek said more intense assistance for less people would better help transition clients out of emergency shelters and into transitional housing programs, which she said is one of the shelter’s goals.
While the Men’s Drop-In Shelter does have limited management onsite, Porchlight provides transportation to its other locations where case management services are.
John was assigned a case manager when he arrived in Madison, but has not met her in-person.
Patterson explained that each section of Porchlight serves a specific function.
“This portion of Porchlight is not geared towards getting you housing,” Patterson said. “This is a place to sleep. You wake up in the morning and go to a different portion of Porchlight and they will help you ... We are limited to what we can do with what we have but it is there nonetheless. It may not be here at the shelter but during the daytime, if you want help it is there.”
Transitional Housing
Waiting lists at times are months long for supportive permanent housing and transitional housing, which has two-year limits. These apartments are often subsidized by the government to maintain low rent, and include such apartments as Porchlight’s single-room-occupancy units on North Brooks Street which are efficiencies with shared bathrooms.
Dane County had 322 beds in transitional housing units and 1,017 beds in supportive permanent housing units as of January 2013, numbers Potnek would like to increase.
She considers more affordable housing options in Dane County a step toward solving homelessness.
“More shelter isn’t the answer,” Potnek said. “I would be happy to lose my job because we don’t need shelter anymore. I would be ecstatic.”
Mayor Paul Soglin said the city recently helped fund a newly-opened single-room-occupancy unit on the East side and is looking to fund another one. He said single men have more emergency shelter space than single women in Madison partly because homelessness of single men is a more visible problem, but that could change with more available affordable housing.
“[The disparity] is going to be solved not by more temporary shelter space, but by more permanent housing,” Soglin said. “That’s the solution.”
UPDATE: March 5, 2013: Following the February 3rd interview with Preston Patterson, Porchlight has since increased case management services at the Drop-In-Shelter. A mental-illness specialist now works at the shelter three nights a week.
