There were developments in both Kenosha and Racine Wednesday as the communities deal with the overlapping problems of homelessness, especially when the issue includes components relating to substance abuse and mental illness.
In Racine, the city’s largest homeless shelter, HALO, said that it was relaxing admission standards, enabling a temporary shelter with more lenient rules known as “HOST” to close at the end of the month. "Instead of Racine having a high-barrier shelter and a low-barrier shelter, which was HOST, we'll now have one shelter in town," said HOST leader Rev. Warren Williams. "I think that's good. That way the community will be able to concentrate its resources."
Gai Lorenzen is the interim director of HALO. She says HALO will drop its requirements that all guests be completely sober and participate in a rigorous program that’s designed to lead to self-sufficiency. She says anyone needing help is now welcome to stay as long as they don’t create any disturbances. Alcohol and drugs inside the shelter are still strictly forbidden.
Meanwhile, the director of HALO’s counter-part in Kenosha said she’s been part of an ad-hoc committee that’s trying to help out First Step, a low-barrier shelter in Kenosha that’s run amok of neighbors and city officials. Shalom Center Director Lynn Biese-Carroll said any help offered by her agency to alleviate problems at First Step most likely won't include a similar easing of entry standards. Rather, Biese-Carroll is interested in finding new resources to help First Step guests to make them better suited for a communal living arrangement while they work to get back on their feet.
She spoke following a ceremony that officially marked the start of the Shalom Center’s expansion project. The non-profit is moving into a vacant office building on 39th Ave.
The Shalom Center is about $600,000 short of its one-point-eight million dollar goal. One bit of good news---the construction bids came in a little less than expected.
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