Roughly 75 people gathered outside of the former McKinley Academy building on Huron Street Saturday morning to discuss a proposed Transitional Housing/Warming Shelter project.
This initiative, known as The Neighborhood, is a collaboration between the Manitowoc Warming Shelter, The Haven Men’s Homeless Shelter, and Hope House.
The groups aim to take the old school building and turn it into a 24-bed warming shelter, expanding from the current 12-bed maximum and a separate set of apartments that would be a direct extension of Hope House and The Haven programming.
Pastor Matt Sauer led the discussion Saturday morning, which he said was all about hearing input from the public.
“Our goal was to listen to the community and get their thoughts,” he explained. “A lot of great ideas were shared. A lot of great support (but) there were some concerns raised that we have been wrestling with as well.”
One man who was not on board with the idea is Rob Sieracki, who lives a few blocks away on Torrison Drive.
He told Seehafer News that he has worked with the homeless in the past while living in Amarillo, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.
“This is incrementalism. When you start expanding goods and services, you get more of the same,” he said. “The warming shelter as I see it, as I know it, capping it at 12 beds, that is fine. This is a bad idea, especially at the location where it is right now.”
Others who reside in the area also expressed concern about the location, specifically regarding security and ensuring those using the warming shelter would not stay in the area once they were let out.
Sieracki said that the answers to those questions were not available.
“(There are) no contingency plans,” he noted. “There were some valid concerns from the neighborhood as far as safety issues. Cameras, lighting, things like that. None of that was addressed.”
Pastor Sauer did say that they are still in the very early planning stages of how the entire project will unfold, and security is one of those concerns.
He also noted that the city hasn’t officially approved the idea yet and invited residents in support of the idea, and those opposed, to attend the Plan Commission meeting on Wednesday.
“They have a public hearing,” Saur explained. “Anybody has the opportunity to share with the City their support, or their concerns, or it could be neutral questions they need to have answered.”
That meeting will begin at 6:00 Wednesday evening in the Council Chambers in City Hall.
