Proposed state law aims to criminalize Milwaukee’s homeless who temporarily live on public property

Persons temporarily living on public property would be prosecuted in the State Assembly under a new Republican law, including fines and prison terms. It has generated fierce opposition from critics who say it will harm people affected by homelessness.

The bill received a public hearing on Tuesday, less than a week after it was introduced, as part of a legislative package designed to address the state’s housing shortage, according to Assembly Republicans. These bills contain provisions on zoning and the approval of new housing projects for workers for specific local governments.

On Tuesday, the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate heard from lobby groups and local government officials on the package’s myriad proposals.

One of the bills, AB604, would make temporary living on public land a class C misdemeanor. For those without a home, this could mean 30 days in jail or a fine of up to $ 500.

State Representative Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake, is the sponsor of the bill. He said the proposal was a matter of public safety and compassion.

“We can’t just have people living in the backstreets of the city,” said Dallman. “We want them in an area where we can monitor the security of the area and make sure they feel safe where they live.”

However, State Representative Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee, said criminal punishment would harm the homeless.

“We’re trying to get her into an apartment, get her into a job,” Haywood said. “I don’t think they’re being criminalized and wronged, or put in jail, or fined a homeless man – who I’m pretty sure doesn’t have the money to pay that fine – I don’t think that that helps the problem. “at all.”

This bill would also withhold portions of grants to organizations that assist the homeless, unless such organization can demonstrate that it has helped people find permanent shelter or employment, or has contributed to the number of people living are homeless several times, to reduce. Organizations that do so after six months will receive the balance of the grant.

James Bohl of the Milwaukee Department of Interstate Relations said while the city did not take an official position on the bill, several issues had raised concerns.

“Certainly there is no local government that would like to prolong the housing problem and raise concerns in the community, but the determination to withhold funds will not solve the problem any better,” said Bohl.

Marjorie Lewis, a coordinator of the Safe Haven Shelter program in Madison, spoke out against the bill, partly because of the criminalization provisions and partly because of the grant withholding provisions given the current shortage of affordable housing.

“If you send someone to navigate a market that doesn’t have affordable housing and then say if you fail we’ll take your money and give it to someone else who’ll do it,” said Lewis. “We don’t have an apartment to navigate. This is one of the biggest problems we face.”

The proposal also provides for grants that would be used to hire home navigators who would, for example, act as a link between homeless support programs and landlords and property managers.

“I think the population will actually either move elsewhere or be put into a program that would help them,” said Dallman.

State Representative Jodi Emerson, D-Eau Claire, expressed concern about the law that deprives first responders of the ability to assist homeless people in shelters and other resources.

“We saw it doing very well in Eau Claire,” said Emerson. “I am against this law if it prevents our local police officers from reaching the homeless population in this way.”

Kurt Paulsen, professor of housing, land use and community finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the bill’s provisions conflict with research suggesting that expanding permanent supportive housing is a solution to homelessness.

“The creation of a criminal home peace for homeless people goes in a different direction than the expansion of the supply of permanently supportive housing,” said Paulsen.

Fight the housing shortage

Paulsen said the bills included in the housing package largely fall under the categories of financial resources and tools, and zoning and land use regulations. He said the proposals would work together to tackle the housing shortage, but they would not solve the problems at hand.

“It took us 20 to 30 years to get ourselves into a housing crisis, so we shouldn’t expect any particular law or instrument to solve things immediately,” said Paulsen.

Some of the proposals address issues beyond the housing shortage. Paulsen pointed out the provisions of AB608, according to which cities or villages with water and sanitation must have at least one area in which apartment buildings are allowed.

“I think these policies, which are in place in many states in the country, are really trying to overcome some of the historical zoning problems that arose in the 1920s and 1930s,” Paulsen said. “Historically, the increase in zoning in the United States has resulted from the exclusion of apartment buildings from single-family homes.”

Other suggestions made during the committee hearing on Tuesday were:

• AB606, which exempts certain building materials, supplies and equipment used in the construction or renovation of workers’ housing from sales and use tax.
• AB607 which sets up a soft or no interest loan program for the refurbishment of some lower income homes built before 1980.
• AB609, which enables cities and towns to create local housing investment programs that are funded by increases in tax revenues on specific areas of land.
• AB610, Restrictive Practices That Can Be Used In Evaluating Property Tax Values.

Paulsen noted how the housing fund investment bill received support from government officials across the state.

“I think this shows that housing is not just an urban or rural problem or a red or blue issue, but that there are creative tools and political solutions that can win a wide range of support,” said Paulsen.

The vote on the legislative package in the committee is expected in the coming weeks. If it exists, its next stop would be the General Assembly.