Kenosha---The non-profit that specializes in helping the hard-core homeless seems eager to show it can be better neighbors.
First Step isn’t waiting for an anticipated contentious battle over license renewal to hit the floor of the city’s License and Permit Committee. Beginning on Monday, the nearly 24-hour shelter on 63rd Street will be closed during the daytime.
First Step spokesman Bob Waldron said Saturday that the move is meant to reduce the number of people that are loitering in the area. "That'll help as far as visibility and some of the other complaints that the neighbors understandably have had for some time," he said.
First Step will remain open at night.
Unlike the Shalom Center, the city’s only permanent, true homeless shelter, First Step takes in people who are under the influence of either alcohol or drugs.
First Step is actually licensed as a ‘refuge’ center, meaning that guests and clients are not allowed to sleep there at night. A compromise interpretation has allowed people to dose off while sitting in chairs.
During the winter months, usually a couple of dozen individuals seek shelter at First Step on a daily basis.
Waldron said First Step's guests are taking news of the pending daytime closure in stride. "They've had so many other rough things in their lives that this is almost like a small bump," Waldron said. "The fact that this place is even open at all is a bona fide benefit to them and they appreciate that. We can see it in their eyes and in discussions with them. They've become our friends. A lot of them are regulars."
The License and Permit Committee is expected to take up the agency’s license renewal request on April 10th.
First Step is run entirely by volunteers. It owns the building it occupies.
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