Fiscal Note
No City appropriation required.
Title
Allowing for the temporary establishment and regulation of a tiny house village at 1901 Aberg Avenue, in order to provide additional shelter to the increasing number of Madison residents experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic and the coldest and most dangerous months of the year.
Body
WHEREAS, on March 17, 2020, Public Health Madison & Dane County announced that community spread of COVID-19 was occurring in Dane County, with the first confirmed community death being reported on March 25, 2020; and,
WHEREAS, since that time, the city, state, country and the world have continued to battle the spread of COVID-19 and its many impacts; and,
WHEREAS, as of October 14, 2020, there have been 11,803 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 46 related deaths in Dane County; and,
WHEREAS, the well-documented recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin and Dane County is alarming, with Dane County now seeing an average of 139 people a day test positive for COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, COVID-19 has come with unprecedented challenges to Madison, including to its residents, economy, and the provision of city services; and
WHEREAS, Madison residents experiencing homelessness have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of residents, particularly men, needing emergency shelter is expected to continue to rise due, in part, to:
· The loss of the use of so-called “vulnerable population” hotels, paid for with federal funds, that are currently sheltering about 130 men, many of whom would continue to require shelter services when funding to support them in the hotels is no longer available;
· The onset of colder weather which will make unsheltered homelessness less feasible. At present an estimated 200 people are camping or sleeping in cars, the vast majority of which are men;
· The depletion of rental assistance resources, and the scheduled end-of-year expiration of the federal moratorium on evictio...
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