With the Hospitality Center of Racine emergency overnight program closing its doors for good on Tuesday, 18 of the 28 participants will be heading to the Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization (HALO), said Rev. Kevin Stewart, who runs the overnight program.
The others will likely be given motel vouchers for an initial period of time until permanent housing can be found.
Last week many of the participants in the program who couldn’t go back or wouldn’t go back to HALO thought they would be living back on the streets, but this is not the case.
Gai Lorenzen, managing attorney for the Legal Action of Wisconsin, is helping the Hospitality Center with the process of helping to transition the participants into alternative housing.
“We’re still working on it,” Lorenzen said. “Anyone on the list will be told today what their options are and we’ll be dealing with anyone that comes tonight that is not on the list.”
Bob Rhodes, one of the participants at the Hospitality Center, can’t go back to HALO because he had an altercation with one of the staff members there. He was told he was going to get a voucher at the Knights Inn, but he’s waiting for his Social Security disability to be approved by the government. Rhodes struggles with alcoholism, but he was also diagnosed with being in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Today wrote on Facebook: “Morning time in the city today was a blessed day without the stress of living arrangements to worry about I was able to notice Racine in a different light things have relaxed a bit Im begining to get excited about spring green grass short sleves short skirts! but the things That matter are the animals will be able to mingle with us once again squirrels, birds singing, rabbits scurring around! all of gods creations will be able to rejoyice in the summer Sun that makes me blessed and happy remember as allways one kind act love your brothers and sisters seize the day!!”