Milwaukee County homelessness at park-and-ride lots addressed
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police, elected officials and county housing employees are set to hold a meeting later this month to discuss the issue of homelessness – and that Milwaukee County park-and-ride lots have become places to live.
Just a stone's throw from the exit ramp off I-94/43 is where Heidi Langer calls home – but she does not want to call it that.
"A place to live," Langer said. "That’s all I keep wishing for and praying for."
Heidi Langer
Langer is one of at least a handful of people who live at the Holt Avenue park-and-ride lot.
"We’re homeless. We have nowhere to go. And it’s hard to find jobs," Langer said.
Holt Avenue park-and-ride lot
It is not to say Langer has not tried. But with no home and no transportation, it is hard to keep a job. Now, she hopes the county's homeless housing program comes through. Langer does not want to be around much longer.
"No. Definitely not another winter," Langer said.
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Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy's district borders the Holt Avenue park-and-ride lot – and includes the College Avenue park-and-ride location.
"It’s an ongoing problem. And by ‘it,’ I don’t mean the presence of folks in a place where they’re trying to feel safe, because they have no other options. But a lack of affordable housing and the reasons we have homelessness to begin with," Clancy said.
Ryan Clancy
In 2020, Milwaukee County passed a resolution declaring a "right to shelter" – providing shelter to people who are homeless or lack access to some place safe to live.
Supervisor Clancy said funding has not kept up with demand.
"Eric Collins-Dyke, and the rest of the Homeless Outreach folks are doing an exceptional job with the very few dollars that we give them," Clancy said.
Multiple messages to Milwaukee County's housing administrator were not returned – as were messages to Supervisor Caroline Gomez-Tom, whose district includes the Holt Avenue park-and-ride.
"I would ask that people in the community not react to people existing in a space, when they have nowhere else to go, is a crime," Clancy said.
"I just keep praying that I get a place," Langer said.
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Langer remains optimistic the county's housing program will come through sooner rather than later.
"I just hope they hurry up and find me a place, because I don’t want to be here no more. Because I can’t do it no more," Langer said.
Heidi Langer
The Milwaukee Police Department, along with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, Milwaukee County Homeless Outreach, city and county elected leaders, will hold a meeting about the issue at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27 (IMPORTANT: THIS IS A NEW DATE) – at the Water Tower Meeting Room (4001 S. 6th Street, Milwaukee).