Milwaukee homeless shelter serves vacate notice to nearby encampment

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee homeless shelter recently served a notice to vacate homeless people living in an encampment, but the shelter is now backpedaling on some of the terms.

The dozens of tents are located on 13th Street near Juneau Avenue.

A 59-year-old man and new father prides himself on cleanliness and keeping peace and order at this encampment near 13th Street. It sits on a garden across the street from the Guest House of Milwaukee, a men's homeless shelter, which it owns.

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"It’s peaceful, we call this the suburbs," he said. "The crimes and all that, those people don’t even stay here."

But his safehaven will soon be gone.

Last week, a 30-day notice was put on the doors of the Guest House of Milwaukee and placed on every tent across the street. But now, the nonprofit said it believes the agreement may have been too aggressive.

"We did see a market explosion in tent population when the RNC came and there was a security zone put out," Guest House of Milwaukee CEO Stephen Bauer said.

Since June, he said the encampment has grown to over 50 tents, with a community of 65 people. The notice to vacate said people must permanently move by 5 p.m. Oct. 12, or police would be called for trespassing. 

The reason: violence.

"Fights were breaking out," Bauer said. "We’ve seen an increase in domestic violence abuse. And drug usage. And actually had an incident where folks from the encampment broke into our shelter and continue to fight with a client of ours."

Bauer said the original plan was also to remove portable toilets and start immediate renovations on the garden before retracting. He said he still wants people to leave, but noted no one will be kicked out due to renovations to the garden.

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"We retracted the eviction," he said. "We are not evicting anybody, it's a little different with an encampment. We’re not going to forcibly remove anybody but we’re going to do everything we can to get them into safe shelter or housing."

But still too much for a pregnant Katie Hansen, who said she's without a place to go.

"There has been too much drama," she said. "I’m trying not to cry."

Bauer said the shelter will not stop assisting those at the encampment. They offer sandwiches and water every day.

The Guest House of Milwaukee is also working to connect people with resources for shelter and housing.