Frederica Freyberg:
Turning to western Wisconsin, in March the city of La Crosse cleared 130 tons of abandoned items at long-term overnight camping sites along the Black River shoreline. The campsites and others are where people experiencing homelessness in La Crosse had taken up residence as part of a five-year plan to end long-term homelessness. Bans on camping on city property are already in place but with nowhere to go, campers pop up on other sites. It's been a thorny problem for the city between trying to help the increasing number of unsheltered people in the aftermath of COVID and being responsive to community calls for action. La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds joins us now and thanks for being here.

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
I appreciate you having me on. Thanks so much.

Frederica Freyberg:
So your Pathways Home plan states that encampments will no longer be tolerated once your new homeless response system is up and running. Is that system up and running?

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
No. No, it's not. And just to be clear, the removal of items from along the Black River was not associated with the Pathways Home plan and that future ban on encampments. What that was, back in February, our emergency manager, response manager, identified a threat of potential flooding in the area where people were settled. And last year when we had really high water, there was a need to rescue folks from that area when the water came up. So we decided that we would mitigate those risks this year by cleaning that area out, not only removing all the debris and items that would, you know, float down the river during the flood system but also removing people from harm's way. As it turns out, this year is a particularly low-water year and that area may or may not flood in the next couple of weeks. So but we felt back in February that it was judicious of us to move forward with moving all the stuff out of that area and having people vacate that as well. But it was not specifically related to Pathways Home.

Frederica Freyberg:
So as to Pathways Home, I know that one prong of it says that to relocate campers, there would be surge placement in shelters or other housing. Is that surge placement happening?

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
We don't have that yet. Now, implementation of Pathways Home plan began in January. And at this point what we're doing is data collection, making sure that we know who everyone is, where everyone is, what their specific needs are, how we can fit them into the support services that are going to be provided by the county and other service agencies, as well as what are the availability of some of the housing options that we have in our community. And frankly, that's a big step and just getting that data put together of the individuals that we're dealing with and being able to share that data. And there's some legal steps that have to happen there as well because it's not the coordinated entry list that typically exists within the COC but more it's a list that's part of the Pathways Home plan that is driven by the county and the city. So it's a little bit inside baseball there but it's a significant amount of work just to get that list together. So that's the first part. And then we move on to the other parts that include where we identify the surge housing, how much we need our surge emergency shelter, how much we need because we don't really want shelters. We want to move people directly from being unsheltered to a housing option immediately.

Frederica Freyberg:
According to the city's documentation, there are about 200 individuals and 20 families experiencing chronic homelessness in La Crosse. Describe kind of the three prongs of the Pathways Home program to try to get people into permanent housing.

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
Well, there is, well, okay, there's a number of in three prongs. It's complicated frankly but and just to be clear, you know, not everybody who is chronically homeless is living like in a tent in the marsh right now. We do have dozens of people who are living in various places throughout the city who are in, you know, in various spots like in the marsh and the forested areas and places that are not in La Crosse. A lot of people, and this is typical, we have people in our community who are not, they are, you know, they may have temporary shelter with a friend or in a, you know, in a relative's spare bedroom or on a couch or something along those lines. We have families that are. We've had a lot of issues with children who are homeless in the city of La Crosse for a really long time. I mean, part of this is really just in one of these areas of the Pathways Home plan is just trying to create more housing options in the city. And this is work that we're doing all the time. And frankly, that's the most critical part of the Pathways Home plan is that. So providing adequate supportive services is another absolutely critical part. But the most important part of Pathways Home is having the city and the county be the ones who are driving the bus, being the ones who are managing the homeless response. This is just it's almost exactly what the city and county of Milwaukee did. And in fact, I just talked to Hector Colon this morning, who is now head of Lutheran Social Services and was the executive director of Milwaukee County Health and Human Services. And they orchestrated that a path to almost functional zero in Milwaukee County by doing this very same thing. And from my perspective, that's the most critical part is that the city and the county are for the first time ever getting together and really managing the response to homelessness. And we're not leaving it to private service agencies. We are directing traffic on this one. And I think that accountability for me, that's the most critical part of it. But certainly the providing supportive services. And then providing adequate housing, finding that adequate housing. That is an absolutely essential part of this.

Frederica Freyberg:
Because how hard is it for you as mayor to see this enduring problem?

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
Feels like failure every single day. That's how it feels. It's constant work. It's exhausting. But I'm not going to quit. It is absolutely critical for our community to address the needs of the most vulnerable, for those individuals and for our community as well. We have to be able to believe that we are a kind of community that looks out for those who are living on the edge of the abyss. It's critical work and it's something I'm completely dedicated to. But yeah, Frederica, it feels like failure every single day.

Frederica Freyberg:
Does the city and county of La Crosse have the capacity and resources to meet your goal of eliminating long-term homelessness by 2029?

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
We do. We need more. I mean, there's and when I was speaking to Mr. Colon this morning, we were talking about the need for there to be community support through various donations, support through business, community organizations, individuals, that type of thing. It's going to take money. And I think that that's something that we'll be working on. But we have resources. But the county has personnel resources that they can utilize. They just had to shift focus away from homelessness and more towards the needs of the homeless individuals, their mental health needs, the addiction issues that they face, that type of thing. And I think that they're more than willing to do that but also because there is coordination between the city and the county. So there's definitely going to be some financial resources that we need and there's definitely going to be a need to create more housing options within the city of La Crosse.

Frederica Freyberg:
We leave it there. Mayor Mitch Reynolds, thanks very much.

Mayor Mitch Reynolds:
I appreciate you having me on. Thank you so much.