County's Proposal To Cut Aid To Homeless Draws More Outrage

Ten days ago, on the very day that Milwaukee County First proudly announced ourselves, it was reported that Milwaukee County had a recommended budget proposal of making devastating cuts to the the already fragile social safety network.  MCF quickly condemned these proposals as “attack on the most vulnerable in our society, turning the budget into a weapon rather than a responsible means for running government.”  We also pointed out that this was just one more example of one of our elected officials putting their political aspirations before the needs of the county.

We are not alone in our outrage.  Several local bloggers also addressed this issue, including Dan Cody, who appropriately called Walker’s proposals as “downright immoral“:

I’ve been fairly mum lately about the actions the County Exec. is taking to keep up with his “hold the line” promise in his run for Governor, but this is going too far. Effectively killing programs that help the homeless, elderly and disabled in Milwaukee County in order to advance a campaign slogan isn’t just impractical, it’s down right immoral.

Are we going to be a society and community that condemns and casts aside the less fortunate in order to save a few dollars on a property tax bill? Should we support public officials who’s policies and ambitions go against everything we ever learned in Sunday school about helping those less fortunate than ourselves?

How can anyone with a conscience support or advocate these kind of policies that will toss the homeless out of shelters or give a decent burial to someone who wouldn’t otherwise get one? It’s morbid and it’s just plain wrong.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is also reporting that many advocates of the homeless are decrying Walker’s proposals:

A proposed $1 million cut in aid by Milwaukee County for homeless shelters and housing for people with mental illness would mean more families living in the streets next year, according to local advocates.

The cut also would mean a retrenchment from recently improved services helping those with mental illness better cope and live independently, the advocates said. Without those services, some would wind up hospitalized or arrested and ultimately cost more in public support, said Barbara Beckert, who directs the Milwaukee office of Disability Rights Wisconsin.

The city and county worked together to improve supportive housing in 2007 after publication of a yearlong series of Journal Sentinel articles depicting squalid living conditions for hundreds of people with mental illness. The newspaper found that some had died as a result of those conditions. “We’ve done some really great things in this community” that would be harmed by the proposed county cuts, Beckert said. She called the trims “a huge step backward.”

[...]

Shelters in the city are full, an offshoot of the poor economy, and would be unable to fill the gap that the county funding cut would create in emergency housing, said Joe Volk, executive director of Community Advocates and coordinator of the local Continuum of Care, a consortium of agencies that serve the homeless.

Under the proposal, “there would be women and children sleeping on the streets of Milwaukee,” Volk said.

The article goes on to quote County Supervisor Peggy West, who obviously gets it, and is one of our elected officials that are willing to put Milwaukee County first:

“Now is not the time for eliminating anything from the homeless,” said County Supervisor Peggy West, the chairwoman of the County Board’s Health and Human Needs Committee. She said supervisors will oppose the homeless cuts if Walker includes them.

She said she wondered whether a number of unpopular cuts were included in departmental requests as a way for Walker to leverage support for privatization efforts on other fronts.

MCF commends Supervisor West for her willingness to stand up for Milwaukee County, and to point out that Scott Walker doesn’t.