Milwaukee’s Homeless Find Shelter at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

On the second floor study lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Union, the open room is full of cozy chairs that are often occupied by students diligently working on their homework between classes. The study lounge is also occupied by another group of people who are not college students, and they are not doing homework but often sleeping. This group includes a number of Milwaukee’s homeless population.

In addition, some of the homeless people at UWM are those attending it. Officials say there have also been homeless students enrolled at the university. It’s all occurring as UWM comes up with new measures to assist students with college affordability, including a food pantry and emergency grant process.

UW-Milwaukee is a public university that is located in the center of the busy city of Milwaukee, which has an estimated 1,400 people experiencing homelessness daily, according to research done by Project Homeless Connect, run by Marquette University.

The UWM student union is a beacon for coffee and fast-food; it’s a place where students can go to do homework, socialize, and take a break in-between classes. For others, the union offers a break from life on the streets.

It seems to be the most popular space for the homeless to congregate. Megan Snef, a sophomore at UW-Milwaukee, works mornings at the union front desk and recognizes the same six or so homeless people each morning at 6:45 a.m.

“As long as they’re not causing problems, they can go in any space that anyone else can go,” said UWM Police Chief Joseph LeMire. The numbers are not large but some students are becoming more conscious of the fact there is a homeless population drawn to campus.

LeMire also confirmed that there are in fact some homeless students. He says the main focus is on ensuring that students who are homeless or have fallen on hard times are equipped with the tools necessary to make it through college.

The presence of some homeless people and students on campus comes as a 2015 survey by the Wisconsin Hope Lab found a concerning amount of food and housing insecurities among college students in Wisconsin, especially from those who came from lower income families in which their parents did not attend college. UWM has a large percentage of first-generation students.

As far as housing and rent goes, 2 percent of 4-year college students admitted that they did not know where they were going to be sleeping at night. 1 percent said they stayed in shelters, while another 1 percent said they slept in cars or an abandoned building. 6 percent said they were unable to pay rent, while 1 percent said they were evicted completely due to lack of payment.

With amenities including bathrooms, lounging furniture, and internet access, the union often serves as a lively shelter for homeless citizens of Milwaukee. The union staff say that the number of homeless or transients have varied over time, but did not say whether it has grown or shrunk.

On any given day at UWM, there are a handful of homeless people spending their day in the study lounge. Some sleep, sprawled out on the chairs, while others read books and enjoying the comfort the plush chairs provided. While a variety of people come and go from the study lounge, a few regular faces seem to return daily.

An older woman with silver hair that matched her silver wired glasses finds her spot in the study lounge every morning, kicks off her tennis shoes, and covers up with her hooded purple jacket and navy fleece blanket to rest. Every now and then she’ll wake up to get a sip of water, use the bathroom, or make some lunch.  A variety of plastic grocery bags hold her belongings, which she carries or pushes in her red wire-framed cart. These bags surround the base of the chair as she settles herself down for the day.

A few feet behind her sits a man with long white hair and a long white beard who will sit in the chairs and often read the newspaper or watches the students pass by on their way to class. Unlike the woman, this man has no possessions he carries on his person, and he frequently roams throughout the union during the day.

The rules are clear; the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is a public university with open access buildings, meaning anyone is allowed to come and go as they please. This means anyone. Minus the residence halls, every UWM building is open to the public.

The police sometimes deal with incidents involving homeless people panhandling students, as well as minor incidents of students being bullied for various reasons. Other incidents include theft of things like toilet paper, paper towel, and food. Some disorderly behavior, like small fights and arguments, also occurs. When someone becomes too disruptive, the police have to intervene and this results in the disrupter being escorted out.

“We take a pretty firm stance with some of that stuff, and we work closely with the union and other areas,” said LeMire. “If it rises to that level we usually ban people from the building and they’re not allowed back.”

When asked about how often this happens, LeMire says due to the lack of ability to distinguish a homeless person from non-homeless, they are unaware of how often it happens.

When it comes to complaints specifically directed towards the homeless, Rebecca Freer, the Interim Dean of Students, says complaints are relatively low.

“The Union administration receives about 1-2 complaints a year. The Dean of Students Office does not receive any complaints that I am aware of,” Freer said.

Chief LeMire says that the university has to be careful to not equate homelessness to problems or crime. Furthermore, the UWM PD do not have any criteria or way of knowing for sure if someone is homeless.

Aiden Ward, a sophomore member of The Student Association, serves as the Student Organizations Advocacy Senator and volunteers weekly with the homeless. He says that homeless people have no particular image.

“There is no stereotype for what a homeless person looks like or how they act. Many people may find themselves in a desperate situation and could need as much help as the ‘typical’ homeless person,” says Ward.

The term “homeless” is often deemed to be a person living on the streets with a stereotypical image surrounding them that ultimately separates them from the rest of society. There is a lack of knowledge and understanding within the disparity of homelessness and is a bigger issue than it may seem to average person’s day to day life.

Dr. David J. Pate, Jr., a social work associate professor at the Helen Bader School of Welfare, specializes in the study of poverty and says homelessness is not always as it seems.

“People assume homelessness is on the street,” he said. “Many homeless are doubling up, which means they’re staying in someone’s house. They’re living there, but not paying.”

Pate says one major cause that resulted in doubling up is the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. The nationwide banking emergency contributed to the four year recession that led to mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. This caused many citizens to lose their houses, rendering them “homeless.”

In a 2015 study, the Wisconsin Hope Lab surveyed over 1,000 low to moderate income students across 10 different Wisconsin community colleges and universities. The study surveyed college students on matters such as food and meals to housing and rent.

In relation to food and meals, the study found that 28 percent of students surveyed from 4-year colleges said they were often times hungry. Four percent said they were using food stamps, while 9 percent said that they had not eaten for a full day or skipped eating for a day to save money.

“The question is are we doing a better job of getting people of lower income into college? Programs that provide money and food and stuff to help them out are certainly appropriate,” said LeMire.

One of the programs, a food pantry, was organized through the Student Association after Fall 2016 survey results revealed that about half of the students surveyed did not have enough food to eat.

The UWM Food Center and Pantry is open to students every fourth Monday of the month on the third floor of the student union. Students can go to get toiletries and non-perishable foods needs or donate to the pantry.

Another programs can be found through the Dean of Students Office at UWM. There is an emergency grant which awards money every year for students in tough financial situations.

This could be students who have simply fallen on hard times and cannot afford their rent or other amenities, or students who are without a home and may be living on the streets or in a friends’ car.

The fund also provides students the funds necessary for food and meals, housing and utilities, dental and health care, personal automobile expenses, child care, and even gas. The fund cannot provide funds for tuition, school fees, books, fines, or other extra fees such as credit card bills.

Ian Hoefflers, a member of the Dean of Students staff works specifically with the emergency grant and has said during the 2017-2018 school year, UWM received 330,000 dollars to help 364 students.

In the case of a homeless student, Hoefflers says that the emergency grant was used to help them get out of a shelter by paying the apartment’s security deposit and first month’s rent.

Along with the Dean of Students staff, Accounts Payable staff help to print the checks needed right away while staff around the division of student affairs meet with the students to determine their needs and awards. These various teams are what help the emergency grant succeed.

For Chief LeMire and the UWM Police Department, a compassionate, team-oriented approach has proven most practical in dealing with UWM’s homeless.

“We deal with it according to law but you deal with it with your heart too,” said LeMire. “We want to be compassionate.”

The chief acknowledged that most police departments usually only have one community resource officer (CRO), who acts as a liaison between the community and the police department, working close with local communities to ensure quality living. Just recently UWM PD has implemented a community resource team.

One of the directions of that team, per Chief LeMire, is to spend some time with the homeless to get to know them and find out their backstory; some of which are incredible according to the chief. This team also gets their name and identification so they know who they are. From there, the community resource team will refer homeless people to various city resources like shelters and food pantries.

Snef, the union front desk worker, says some of the homeless routinely show up every morning.

“They wait outside until the door opens. They take the bus and then they get off and they all wait for me to open the door, and sometimes they get mad when I don’t open the door earlier for them,” she said.

Snef recalls one particular man, whose name is unknown, and who ran a YouTube channel and would sometimes film inside the union. A few days after filming one of his videos, he got disruptively intoxicated and was escorted out by the police. Once outside, he hit his head on the ground causing the police to drive him to the emergency room. She said the man is okay, but she hasn’t seen him since he fell.

“He was very intelligent,” Snef said. “Older employees said they saw within when they worked here, the difference in how he was before he was kinda homeless, and when he went homeless. His face was so much thinner and his body lighter, and his attitude towards everything just dropped.”

Just like the unknown man, many citizens who experience homelessness can become depressed or hopeless. Even as they are trying their hardest to get out of the situation, programs and funding are often not enough to help everyone deemed homeless. Men often don’t have housing because there isn’t enough housing for single adults so crisis centers and shelters prioritize woman and children.

Ward, the Student Association volunteer, is a veteran of the military himself and is disappointed in lack of resources to help homeless vets who experience mental health disparities.

“Seeing homeless veterans and thinking about the military and how we all treat each other as family makes me feel almost like I am letting a family member down,” Ward says. “Being able to volunteer and hear their stories allows me to give back and try to make their lives the best that I am able to. It also teaches me that these people try extremely hard to live a normal life and they are never portrayed in that light.”

In 2012, UW-Milwaukee opened the Military and Veterans Resource Center, located at the base level in the Student Union. This office works to address the challenges faced by current and former military veterans, educate the surrounding community on military disparities and stereotypes, and offer a safe space for those who have served to connect with one another.

Multiple homeless citizens are very prideful and do not want to be reduced to the stereotype.

“You typically find that veterans are pretty proud people and don’t want to admit that they are homeless or need help,” said LeMire.

A few of UWM’s homeless citizens were asked to give their insight and experience with homelessness but declined to speak on the subject.