Politics
La Crosse relays info ahead of Thursday’s special sessions and regular city council meetings on homelessness
FROM CITY OF LA CROSSE WEBSITE:
For the August 2024 cycle of the La Crosse Common Council, multiple legislative items are set to either address homelessness directly or in a way related to service organizations that work with the homeless population or those who have lower incomes.
Due to a significant amount of interest in these issues, the following is meant to provide an overview of each item.
— 4:30 p.m. Judiciary & Administration special session
Another special meeting that is scheduled to also be held on August 8 is for the Council’s Judiciary & Administration Committee.
This meeting has also been approved by the action of five council members. The purpose of this meeting is to consider removing Houska Park from the blanket ban on camping sites at parks and parking ramps within the city. That ban was approved in July of 2023.
Whether to remove Houska Park from the comprehensive parks ban on camping will also be part of a discussion at the regular City Council meeting scheduled for August 8 at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.
— 5 p.m. Thursday council special session
At 5 p.m. Thursday, a special meeting of the La Cross Common Council will be held to consider options identified in a staff report outlining possible sites for homeless individuals to stay overnight legally. These options are contained in a report developed by city staff.
This report was directly mandated by a Common Council resolution at the special Council meeting held in June.
This week’s special meeting—like the previous one—has been approved with the concurrence of five Council members.
— 6 p.m. Thursday regular city council monthly meeting
- During this regular Common Council meeting Thursday, the council is set to consider whether to make some language changes to the city’s current camping ban ordinance. These changes are necessary due to the conflicts in some changes that have already been approved by council. In order for all of those approved changes to be enforceable, the ordinance (found in Sec. 32-5 of the city’s municipal code) would have to be repealed and recreated.
- During the same regular Common Council meeting, a proposal to ban camping on all city-owned property in the La Crosse River marsh will also be considered. The city-owned marsh parcels in question are identical to those that the city’s Board of Public Works deliberated on in early June. The Board at that time voted 3-2 to not ban camping on the marsh parcels. The Sec. 32-5 ordinance on camping currently allows the full Council to also determine which parcels should be off limits for camping of any kind.
- In addition to the camping items at question on August 8, there are two items that address a possible zoning change for the REACH Center at 212 11th St. S. This is the center within which multiple service agencies are housed.
- The agencies address social issues like housing insecurity and homelessness, among others.
- The zoning change is being requested in order to, among other things, allow improvements to the building in order to provide dental services to those who are not able to access those services elsewhere.
- This is the same zoning request that was denied by the Council earlier this year due to the need at the time for a super majority of the council to approve. That requirement has been removed.
- Therefore, it will be necessary for the council to agree that the new zoning request can be made because the change of law related to super majorities and zoning changes.
2024 Action Plan and Funding Allocation: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Programs
- One additional item on the Common Council agenda for August 8 is related to issues of homelessness and housing insecurity. The council will decide on approval of a resolution authorizing 2024 Action Plan and funding allocation in connection with CDBG and HOME programs. The CDBG and HOME programs are federally-funded programs meant to address challenges related to low incomes and housing affordability, as well as other goals.
- The proposed 2024 Action Plan before the Council for a vote on Thursday is the basis from which the federal Housing and Urban Development agency will allocate approximately $1.1 million in La Crosse for housing rehabilitation and replacement, poverty alleviation activities of various organizations, and a small amount for emergency shelter for homeless individuals.