Dane County pledges $1.5M boost Madison homeless shelter

Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced on Monday he introduced $1.5 million in extra funding for an emergency shelter for homeless men in his 2024 budget proposal.

In 2022, the city of Madison and Dane County began collaborating plans for an overnight shelter at 1904 Bartillon Drive. Local government will work with architects at Dimension IV Madison Design Group to build a purpose-built shelter to primarily serve homeless men. Bartillon Shelter will use sustainable features such as a mass timber structure, rooftop solar arrays and a geothermal heating system, city officials said.

The total county funding proposed for the brick-and-mortar facility is now $10.5 million, county officials said. The extra funding will go to daytime programming and services space for shelter guests, sustainability measures to lower long-term operating costs and help install a critical back-up system in case of an outage.

The project is in the design development stage and construction documents will start in the last quarter of 2023, according to a city project overview. Construction is expected to start in early 2024, and completion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Geothermal test bores were completed to gather ground information between August and September, city officials said. The bore will be used again for the full system installation, with permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and input from the Madison Water Utility. The city expects around 40 bores to be installed with the future construction project.

Lessons from COVID-19 pandemic accelerated need for Madison homeless shelter

County officials saw the need for a new shelter when several shelters in downtown Madison closed for a short time after a massive power outage and transformer fire during a heat wave in 2019.

On top of shelters playing a role for people experiencing homelessness to find housing, Parisi said in a statement that having the space would align with the county’s efforts to create access to affordable housing.

“Emergency shelter plays an integral role in helping our neighbors experiencing homelessness move into housing and achieve economic stability. A safe, welcoming shelter space with consistent connection to case management and community services goes hand in hand with the County’s ongoing efforts to increase access to and availability of new affordable housing units,” the county executive added.

Bartillon Shelter will be Madison’s first structure built for the specific purpose of operating as a homeless shelter. Before, other shelters operated out of church basements and renovated spaces.

County officials said the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed support for a shelter, and the community had greater support after the city hosted a large temporary shelter space which resulted in better service.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement the new commitment was another step closer to a long-overdue shelter.

“This commitment moves us one step closer to having our community’s first, and long-overdue, purpose-built shelter where residents can connect to housing navigation services and other resources that will help them on their journey to more permanent housing. The City greatly appreciates the partnership with Dane County in this endeavor, and County Executive Parisi’s leadership in moving it forward,” Rhodes-Conway added.

The future shelter will serve 250 people and will be operated by Porchlight, Inc. Currently, the total estimated capital funds for the project are $23.5 million.

The Dane County Executive budget for 2024 includes $376,251 to support operating costs at the men’s shelter, county officials said.