Unhoused people in Milwaukee pitched tents in King Park this summer. Advocates who work with the homeless population say that a decision to close two Park & Ride lots in Milwaukee has made things more difficult for people who don't have housing,. (Isiah Holmes | Wisconsin Examiner)

Seeing people living out of their vehicles in Milwaukee’s Park & Ride lots at Holt and College Avenues wasn’t unusual for Eva Welch. As co-founder and executive director of the homeless outreach group Street Angels, she had watched for nearly a decade as the Park & Rides grew into their own unique communities. 

Welch was dismayed to hear that officials would be closing the Park & Rides. Driving the Street Angels  outreach bus packed with all manner of supplies, the team traveled throughout Milwaukee. Among their stops were four Park & Rides, where commuters park their vehicles and board public transit. Over the years, more and more people living in tents or out of their vehicles – functional or otherwise – chose to remain in the lots. 

“Holt Avenue Park & Ride has actually been a stop on our route through the entire nine, almost 10 years that we’ve been in existence,” Welch told Wisconsin Examiner. She called the lots on Holt and College avenues the “largest by far” in terms of how many unhoused Milwaukeeans lived there. “The majority of the folks there either had some kind of camper, or a vehicle, but there was still several – more than several – people between the two Park & Rides living in tents on the grounds of the Park & Rides in the grassy areas.” 

Park & Ride residents had created a modest form of shelter and community, she said. “There’s actually a group of folks that were removed from the Holt Park & Ride that are trying to move around as a group,” said Welch. “And unfortunately, it’s unsuccessful for them. Everywhere they’ve gone, they’ve been told to move within 12 hours. And they’re pretty adamant about staying together because they’ve somewhat become a family.”

That group is made up of about  15-20 people, Welch said. On Oct. 14, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that two Milwaukee County Park & Rides would be closed, along with another partial closure, “due to declining safety conditions.” Over a year, more than 80 people have been removed from the lots and have found housing through the county’s housing services. The press release stated that despite those efforts, more unhoused Milwaukeeans continued to find the lots. 

“We’re seeing a lot of individuals who are experiencing homelessness, sometimes, for the first time,” said Eric Collins-Dyke, deputy administrator for Milwaukee County Housing Services. Different factors also seem to be leading people to the lots. “Some of it is dealing with past trauma and the complexities that accompany that, and also we’ve seen more from an economic standpoint, individuals who work and they either lost their employment for rent, or are currently working and getting income, but aren’t making enough to afford rent.”

Collins-Dyke said this trend is spreading “pretty rapidly” and not just at the Park & Rides. “It sort of made us look at having to be more robust in the preventional space.” Generally, many of the people living in the Park & Ride lots are from the Milwaukee area. “Almost across the board, from the area,” Collins-Dyke said, adding  that more older adults are appearing unhoused in Milwaukee County. Nevertheless, age ranges in the encampments can vary from people in their early 20s up to elders in their 70s. 

DOT’s press release stressed that camping near highways or “adjacent right-of-ways” is illegal under state law. Unlike some metro regions nationwide, Milwaukee has no “safe camping” initiatives, which designate areas for unhoused people to camp.

The DOT stated that between July 1 and September 30 of this year, there were 275 calls for service to the lots, an increase of nearly 42%. Those incidents ranged from reports of assaults, theft, and overdoses. 

“Public safety is first and foremost,” WisDOT Assistant Deputy Secretary Joel Nilsestuen said. “Park & ride lots are not safe or suitable places for anyone to live. We’ve worked closely with our partners to connect individuals with available resources and relocate them to safer situations. We do not take this action lightly, but we recognize the importance of doing what’s right for the safety of the people in the park & rides, the traveling public and nearby communities.”

“We are concerned for the safety of those choosing to live in these lots, as well as for the safety of the surrounding community,” Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan said. “The reported incidents happening inside of these encampments and nearby neighborhoods are unacceptable. We are dedicated to protecting the public, and in doing so, we must do what’s necessary to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Some wonder if these acts are actually working in the long run. Welch said that the Park & Ride residents had been sent notices warning of closures before, but authorities never followed through. “Typically what would happen is the news would pick it up, and the notices would be rescinded,” said Welch. “So for many of them, they didn’t believe that this was going to happen.” Many Park & Ride residents were on edge, said Welch. Then fences went up, police patrols came through,  and other indications it was time  to leave appeared. “It’s been quite an experience for the folks that were staying there,” said Welch. “They were having difficulties getting their stuff out, they couldn’t get back in to get their stuff once they went back out.” 

With winter coming, immediate housing and shelter space is limited. Among local officials, reactions to the Park & Ride closures were split. County Supervisors Caroline Gomez-Tom and Jack EckBlad released a joint statement saying the DOT’s response “fails to address the underlying issues contributing to homelessness in our community.” The supervisors called for affordable housing, robust tenant protections, and support for people facing housing instability. Earlier this month, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley announced $4 million in affordable housing focused on Milwaukee and Oak Creek.

On a nightly basis, Street Angels encounters around 300 people living on the street, tucked away in wooded areas, or camping in Park & Rides. In September 2022, the group was encountering 223 people living unhoused. By September of this year, the number had increased to 488, that’s a 120% increase over a two-year period. Welch told Wisconsin Examiner, “We’ve never served so many people in vehicles…We’ve seen people in really nice vehicles sometimes, where they’re choosing their car payment over their rent because they can’t afford both and still eat.” 

Outreach groups, whether attached to the county or on their own, are also struggling to keep up. Street Angels has no form of permanent funding, Welch said. “Every year what we raise is what’s getting us by the next year,” she told Wisconsin Examiner. Nevertheless, the group is adding new programs, and providing more meals ahead of the winter. 

Collins-Dyke said that the county will work with nonprofits and the city to support warming rooms and increase its own presence. “I think this year, the coordination among teams within the system will be more important than ever.”

Members of the Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union (MATU) join other Milwaukee residents in a protest calling for a freeze to rents and evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved $250,000 to fund the Legal Aid Society’s Right to Counsel Program. Under this program, eligible residents facing eviction proceedings will receive free legal representation. Tenants and families with young children will be prioritized in the new program. 

“There is a broad, positive, progressive coalition of stakeholders who support this program,” said Sup. Jack Eckblad, author of the amendment which will help fund the program. Calls to establish such a program have grown since 2020, when eviction filings sored to new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Milwaukee County eviction filings rose by 26 that year.

An initial pilot program launched in late 2021 received  more than $3 million in funding. Under the program, tenants who arrived to eviction proceedings were more frequently represented by  lawyers, with the incidence of representation rising  from 2-3% to 6-16%. Evictions were prevented in 76% of cases, and eviction records were sealed in 72% of cases. The majority of those filings, a report evaluating the pilot program found, were made in majority Black census tracts, and 78% of the program’s clients were Black women. 

Housing advocates said that the program needed to expand to have greater impact. They also objected to input from landlords during the process of  crafting new programs to help tenants in Milwaukee. 

During the summer, outreach groups reported seeing more individuals living unhoused on the streets and  in cars. In July, after an unhoused man was killed by out-of-state police during the Republican National Convention, the outreach group Street Angels reported serving up to 300 people per night. Funding for the Right to Counsel Program comes as Wisconsin’s largest braces for  winter.