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Unsheltered, Resources and Tough Decisions Ahead

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Dairy Drive

This week, I made the tough decision to vote to close the Dairy Drive operations. When it first opened, the site was meant to help people camping at Reindahl move toward permanent housing. It offered housing navigation, mental health support, conflict resolution, help with substance use, transportation, and meals. It worked because we had daily resources in place—most of it funded by one-time federal dollars through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). Without that level of funding, without a long-term plan, and without clear success measures, it just isn’t realistic to extend the facility under much smaller resources.

Our community has made strong commitments to support unsheltered residents: the family shelter, the purpose-built shelter, the day shelter, expanded outreach resources—including new non-profits—and culturally competent services. Just this week, we allocated new funding to organizations serving this population, with at least ten groups applying for support. Not all could be funded. We have also expanded CARES services across the city, adding another layer of support.

At the same time, Dane County faces a multimillion-dollar deficit. The Department of Human Services’ 2026 budget underscores two critical realities: baseline funding has barely increased, and ARP dollars are now fully depleted. The department has even been asked to plan for a 4% budget reduction.

Meanwhile, our Community Development team has requested an additional $1 million to bring the City’s 2026 shelter operations contribution to $1.7 million. We are asking the County to at least match this investment. So far, there is no clear indication of how the County Executive intend to proceed.

Without firm County commitments, with federal and state funding uncertain, and with demand rising, we are left with difficult—and sometimes inhumane—choices. I am grateful for the outpouring of community support, but this was not an easy vote.

Many residents have voiced solidarity with our unsheltered neighbors. I urge everyone to continue engaging—not only in reaction to social media posts, but through deeper involvement with the organizations leading this work and with your alder, supervisors and state officials. Ending homelessness requires a broad partnership. Public funding alone cannot close the gap; private sector contributions and community fundraising will also be essential.

Timeline

  1. Forty plus years in the making

    In 1984, 41 years ago, the Madison Area Urban Ministry—now known as Just Dane—established a temporary shelter on University Avenue. A year later, the shelter moved to the basement of Grace Episcopal Church, eventually becoming the Men’s Drop-In Shelter operated by Porchlight. That facility offered 48 beds and overflow floor space for 12 additional people, but demand consistently exceeded available resources. Operations were sustained through volunteers, private donations, and county funding. To learn more about Grace’s experience and contribution to this population check out Rev. Dr. D. Jonathan Grieser’s blog.

  2. Temporary Shelters

    In 2020, pandemic restrictions forced the closure of Grace’s shelter. The Mayor issued an emergency order temporarily suspending state laws prohibiting camping in city parks. Multiple encampments emerged, but inadequate funding meant safety and stability could not be ensured. Recognizing the need for coordinated action, the City and County partnered to establish a permanent men’s shelter. This collaboration led to the conversion of the First Street parking garage into a temporary shelter in 2021 and, ultimately, to securing the current Zier Road location in 2022. 

  3. Karmenta and Dairy Drive

    Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan allowed both the City Council and County Board to expand resources for the unsheltered. For example, in 2021 the closure of the Karmenta Center nursing home created an opportunity for a new family shelter, the shelter has 35 rooms and currently supports 191 individuals. And by the end of the same year the Dairy Drive Urban Campground open as a temporary solution to transition residents into housing and prioritizing those camping at Reindahl Park after the emergency order has been lifted. 

  4. County & City Join Forces

    That same year, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said: “This will be the single largest new capital expenditure in my 2023 budget. This new shelter is a critically important piece of our joint effort to assist those in need in finding a safe and permanent home.” The Capital Times reported that the facility—among the first of its kind in Wisconsin—would be 40,000 square feet and accommodate 200 people. Based on best practices and with the intend to provide comprehensive services, the capacity was later expanded to 250. The current temporary shelter serves over 250 people every night, peaking at nearly 350 people in January 2025.

  5. Dairy Drive Funding

    In 2023, during 2024 budget negotiations, city staff identified a funding gap that threatened Dairy Drive’s operations to cease in the middle of the Winter. With Supervisor Wegleitner’s support, we bridged that gap using a combination of ARP dollars and a small GPR/Levy allocation from the County, allowing operations to continue until Summer/Fall of 2025. This extension provided time for the operator to develop a transition plan and freed up city staff limited capacity to focus their efforts on the permanent shelter budget and operations.

  6. Point in Time Counts

    Check out the Point in Time presentation, the presentation starts at marker 1:01:11

    As of September 14:

    Porchlight Men's shelter average 312 guests per night for the month

    The Salvation Army, Women’s shelter 92

    Family Shelter- 22 families ( 24 women, 10 men, and 42 children)  --> the census is down as they are fixing up some rooms. (Waitlist- 56 families; 10 reporting unsheltered homelessness)

    Healing House - 2 families

    YWCA family shelter - 10 families

Additional Resources

Mission Camp Ordinance

The Urban campground was zoned under the Mission Camp ordinance which “is a facility owned, operated, or funded by a non-profit organization, religious institution, or governmental entity that provides a campground area where individuals may live temporarily or permanently in tents or other portable shelter units.” To learn more about the zoning aspects created or updated to allow Mission Camps, check out the following Legistar documents: 66790-Mission Camp (MC) District, 66791- Tiny House Village (THV) District and 66792- Portable Shelter Mission

Expenditure Restraint Incentive Program (ERIP)

Learn about ERIP and the impact of 2026 budget

• City qualifies for $7 million in state aid if it keeps the increase in General Fund budget, excluding debt service, below the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 60% of net new construction. 

• Estimated growth limit for 2026 = 4 percent 

• Cost-to-continue, plus technical corrections, excluding debt service = $378.8 million 

• Maximum allowed to qualify for ERIP = $380.4 million 

• Presentation on cost to continue outlook originally projected expenditures to be higher than maximum level to qualify for ERIP. Technical adjustments, particularly lower than anticipated health and benefit increases, brings requests below ERIP target. 

• The total amount of supplemental requests, and other adjustments, would have to remain below the ERIP target in the executive and adopted budgets

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District 10 - Alder Figueroa Cole

Alder Yannette Figueroa Cole

Alder Yannette Figueroa Cole

District 10
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