OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — While there are expanded options for people in sub-zero temperatures, Oshkosh does not have a year-round, emergency winter homeless shelter, leaving many to endure the weather and sleep outside.
- Day by Day shelter offers 15 extra emergency beds when temperatures drop below zero.
- Tina Krause stays at the Day by Day shelter, though she worries about her friends sleeping outside.
- Oshkosh does not offer an emergency winter shelter like many neighboring communities do.
Tina Krause’s morning routine in the winter isn’t typical.
“I'm a routine person,” Krause says. “I like to wake up early. I want to drink my coffee, I want to go to a job.”
Instead of morning coffee, she makes sure her friends made it through the night.
“The first thing I do in the morning is come and check on them, or wake them up or see if they’re breathing,” she says.
Krause has been staying at the Day by Day shelter since October, but last year she spent the winter outside.
“I couldn't get warm, so I had a hard time sleeping a lot, so I was tired and got sick,” she says.
Oshkosh does not have an emergency winter shelter for those experiencing homelessness, so Krause knows many people who still spend the night outside.
“Unless you’re equipped with 30 below sleeping bags, several of them, I don't know if you’re really going to get warm,” she says. “It's life threatening.”
When temperatures reach below zero, Day by Day opens up 15 extra emergency beds on top of the 50 they already provide.
Executive director of the shelter, Molly Yatso-Butz, says even on the coldest days this week, there were still open beds.
The shelter is not open during the day, though they host day classes, employment and group programs, Yatso-Butz says.
Besides their extra programming, Day by Day is closed 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Yatso-Butz says the shelter does not have the capacity to be both a 360-day shelter and a 24-hour shelter.
Krause spends the cold days inside the Oshkosh Salvation Army, where she can get a free hot meal.
“They are wonderful to us,” she says of the staff at the Salvation Army. “They give us what we need and make sure we’re equipped to be safe.”
On the weekends, when the Salvation Army is closed, days are a little harder for Krause.
She, like many in her situation, will go to the public library. However, the library does not open until 1 p.m. on Sundays. Residents must spend five hours outside after Day by Day closes before there’s a public place to stay warm.
Krause goes to church on Sundays, where she says she’s able to wait inside for part of the morning.
“When it is cold like this, people do step up and they do help you,” she says.
When the weather is above zero, there are no emergency beds in Oshkosh. There is transitional shelter at COTS and Day by Day, but both organizations typically have a wait list.
“It's critical to have a place to be warm and to be inside,” Eric Rasmussen, director of emergency management for Winnebago County, says.
Rasmussen says the closest emergency warming shelters are Fond Du Lac or Appleton.
The emergency management department supports emergency services throughout the county, including those that directly affect the unhoused population.
Rasmussen says without an emergency warming shelter, there is a “gap” in care for the homeless in Oshkosh.
“A lot of our community partners do extend their hours and offer additional services, but those overnight hours is when we really do struggle to find places to go,” he says.
Rasmussen says the American Red Cross helps communities set up emergency shelters during natural disasters, but extreme cold does not qualify.
