This Green Bay homeless women’s shelter reopens. It still grapples with rising needs.
GREEN BAY – Just a month after St. John's Ministries announced it didn't have adequate staff to open its women's shelter, the homeless shelter has reopened. But the growing rate of homelessness in Brown County continues to challenge capacities.
It couldn't come at a more urgent time, not only because of the bitter temperatures, but the steady rise in chronic homelessness on top of situational homelessness, executive director Jesse Brunette said.
St. John's Ministries opened just the men's overnight shelter Nov. 1, with a plan to temporarily house both men and women at the low-barrier shelter, at 411 St. John St., until it could recruit 25% more staff to operate its two shelters. At the end of November, the shelter nearly exceeded its 140-person capacity, with 100 men and 39 women sheltering, Brunette said. Additional difficulties came with sheltering men and women in separate facilities, safety being one of the major reasons for the women's shelter opening in the first place in 2022.
Currently, St. John's Ministries has 20 year-round staffers who work at its four facilities — Wellspring, Micah Center, Women's Shelter and Men's Shelter — and "anywhere from 40 to 50 seasonal staff," Brunette said.
But the nonprofit organization is not out of the woods yet. It can open its doors, but "vulnerabilities" remain, such as needing to hire staff for night shifts from 11:30 p.m. to 9 a.m., Brunette said. It's also cold and flu season, which puts staff at greater risk of becoming sick.
"We have enough staff now, but if someone is out sick for whatever reason, then we need to reorganize the staff that we have," Brunette said, noting that year-round staff like case managers and security sometimes have to step up to fill part-time roles.
A rise in people struggling with situational and chronic homelessness
Across all Brown County homeless shelters, there's been a dramatic rise in both people seeking housing and living on the streets.
Last year's unsheltered numbers, record breaking at the time, indicated to members of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition that the community faced a "tipping point." St. John's Ministries sheltered 605 people — its most guests during the shelter season from Nov. 1, 2022, to April 30. But since its opening Nov. 1, St. John's Ministries is admitting people at a pace 19% higher than this time last year, according to Brunette.
Over the last 33 days, St. John's Ministries has provided shelter to 253 people, for a total of 3,474 bed nights. That roughly breaks down to two-week stays for each individual.
Chronic homelessness — usually people who have experienced homelessness for at least 12 months or four separate times over the last three years — has been steadily rising, Brunette said, as has situational homelessness, whether that means rent hikes beyond a person's means or someone escaping domestic violence.
"When you have month after month, year after year, the same people presenting in shelter, that keeps those numbers stable, or climbing," Brunette said.
Meanwhile, domestic abuse rates, which soar during the holidays, are at an all-time high this year. Golden House, Green Bay's domestic violence shelter and resource center, was at 91% capacity in November and December in 2022, its executive director Cheeia Lo said. This year, the numbers look even more grim.
This November alone, the domestic violence shelter has taken in nearly 1,000 calls to its emergency line.
St. John's has also seen the women's homelessness population grow. So far since it's opened, the shelter has averaged sheltering 32 women per night. Last year, the shelter averaged 27 women per night, Brunette said.
How did we get here?
A lack of affordable housing is part of the problem, coalition members say. Take, for example, the fact that, last year, of the 235 unhoused people — those individuals who aren't able to access shelter — just eight found stable housing. Another 89 met unknown fates.
Demands on the housing market are also impacting apartment rentals. Landlords have increased rental costs to keep up with those demands, which pushes renters beyond their means.
Barriers to rental futures are fueled by cycles of poverty, outreach coordinator for community health nonprofit Newcap Paul Van Handel told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin in July. It comes down to three major issues, he said: eviction, conviction, addiction.
Without addressing these systemic problems, Van Handel said, many people are bound to repeat the cycle. Some are discharged from hospitals to nowhere, others released from prison to nowhere, he said. Many people in these situations, especially those experiencing mental illness, aren't able to access resources and become lost in the system.
"So much of this is the lack of ability in the Brown County continuum of care to really place people," Van Handel said.
St. John's Ministries is feeling the weight of these unwieldy homeless numbers. Brunette, while grateful to be able to finally open the women's shelter this season, said the "new sobering reality" is that the shelter is struggling to "overcome the growing costs of sheltering the larger number of adults who arrive at our doors."
Brunette hopes he can put his energy into "trying something different" in the coming years, to lower the number of chronically homeless people and give people more resources and opportunities.
"We can't have the staff who are working shifts become overwhelmed with more guests than what they're able to safely and compassionately serve," Brunette said.
Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: St. John's Ministries' homeless shelter reopens as needs continue
