MILWAUKEE — On Monday morning, bulldozers cleared trash and debris from the College Avenue park-and-ride, the site of a camp for unhoused individuals until the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) temporarily closed it and moved people out.
WisDOT cited safety concerns for the closure.
One person now scrambling to find a place to stay is James, who chose not to share his last name with TMJ4.
He says he’s been in Milwaukee since July, after escaping a domestic violence situation. Now he has a week to leave the park-and-ride’s southwest lot.
“I knew it was coming,” James told TMJ4 reporter Brendyn Jones. “That’s why I’ve been making my preparations, hoping a job opportunity and a living situation come in.”
Watch: Unhoused left with uncertainty as WisDOT closes a second park-and-ride lot:
Last week, WisDOT told TMJ4 it has helped around 80 people find shelter or housing from the Holt and College Avenue park-and-rides.
But homeless outreach groups, like Street Angels, say shelter space is in short supply.
“The bottom line is, there is nowhere for people to go,” said Eva Welch, co-director of Street Angels.
On Monday morning, Milwaukee city and county officials held a joint press conference to declare the week as Homeless Awareness Week. TMJ4 raised these concerns during the event.
The county acknowledged challenges in placing people in shelters, citing staffing issues. Officials also confirmed they collaborated with WisDOT to house or shelter approximately 80 people.
After the press conference, TMJ4 requested clarification from the county on how many of those 80 individuals received permanent housing versus temporary shelter.
In a statement, a county spokesperson did not provide specifics, writing:
“To date, more than 80 people living at the park-and-rides have been housed or found shelter. The coalition is tasked with the balancing act of prioritizing this emerging crisis while still allocating its limited resources to individuals elsewhere in the community, including those waiting for housing in emergency shelters.”
Welch says the park-and-ride closures are a setback for Milwaukee’s unhoused population.
“Not only are they homeless, but they’re also being displaced from being homeless,” Welch told TMJ4. “It’s kind of ironic that the press conference, or whatever it was, was going on while the College park-and-ride was actually being forcefully evicted.”
Back at the park-and-ride, the once larger community has dwindled. James tells TMJ4 the number of people there has decreased from around 40 to about 10 in recent days.
He says he has some job prospects and hopes to find housing in the next week.
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