Local shelters step up as temperatures drop

As the temperature drops, local shelters are stepping up to provide a warm place to stay for the unhoused. 

The WMC shelter opened on May 1 this year. It’s a joint effort between Wausau and Marathon County to address area homelessness.

City Police Chief Matt Barnes told the Wausau Pilot and Review the shelter will remain open until the end of March next year. That’s a three month extension of the shelter’s operation. 

In a presentation to the Public Health and Safety Committee on Monday, Community Outreach Specialist Tracy Durante said there are more warm places for people to go this year.

“This report will reflect a lower number in our shelter because Catholic Charities Good Shepherd Shelter did open their doors on November 1st,” she said.

She said they’ve had over 300 unduplicated individuals visit the WMC shelter since it opened, with over a 100 in November alone. 

“About 31 percent of those individuals are females,” she said. “So we’re working really hard to kind of embrace those that are older that are utilizing shelter and and my outreach update kind of reflects that. We were able to get two of our elderly females housed this month.”

Bridge Street Mission is working on opening a renovated shelter at their new location on North First Avenue. They expanded their hours over the weekend as temperatures dropped.

“Just all of the partners coming together to embrace this population during the cold season here is really impressive,” Durante said.

The city of Wausau has a city action plan called “Community on Call” which ensures any unhoused people seeking shelter can do so.

Thanks to extended hours at shelters around the city, Durante says the city may not need to activate the plan.

“Based on the numbers even from this last weekend, I don’t feel like we will have any problem being able to accommodate individuals as they show up,” she said.

The WMC is seeking volunteers for Christmas Eve. For more information, visit the shelter’s Facebook page.