The Ropers, a homeless family living at the Salvation Army Emergency Lodge, take advantage of the children’s library area on a recent winter morning. (Photo by Andrea Waxman) When Shiredon Roper and her children fled their home two months ago to escape a violent situation, they took shelter in abandoned buildings. Roper dared not sleep as she watched over her son, 15, and daughter, 10, she said. Roper, a diabetic in stage-five renal failure with no local family, called 211, Milwaukee’s coordinated shelter entry system that prioritizes callers based on their level of vulnerability. After three days, she was offered and accepted a room at the Salvation Army Emergency Lodge. IMPACT 2-1-1 Coordinated Entry for Homeless Services, implemented here in 2013, has improved the process for matching Milwaukee’s most vulnerable homeless people with shelter space, according to experts. But stories like Roper’s indicate that emergency shelter space is inadequate, especially for families with children. Family shelter space is very limited, agreed Audra O’Connell, Impact’s Coordinated Entry program director. It is especially tight for larger families and families with challenging circumstances such as medical problems or disabled adult children who need parental supervision, she said. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! Directors of nine local homeless shelters report that their facilities are currently full or near full. Eight of those are open around the clock and don’t require guests to leave during the day. The Cathedral Center is not usually open 24 hours, but in extreme weather, the staff works overtime to allow guests to stay all day, according to Donna Rongholt-Migan, executive director. Eighty to 90 percent of people calling 211 seeking shelter do not fit the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) definition of who is in need of immediate shelter, O’Connell said. Her staff strives to come up with alternative solutions to the problems that cause people to feel vulnerable, she added. Such things as utility assistance, landlord-tenant mediation and referrals to Wisconsin Works (W2), a program that provides job services, case management and cash assistance to eligible families, often allow people to stay in their homes. O’Connell noted, for example, that many people don’t understand that the first eviction notice they receive is an order to come up with a “cure” (a payment plan, a plan to move elsewhere, etc.) in five days, not an order to vacate. Impact assesses the situation of each caller seeking shelter. Then O’Connell’s staff matches “those most likely to die in their current situation” (category 1) with available shelter beds or warming centers, she said. On a recent day when the high temperature hovered near zero, Impact received shelter requests from 12 families it classified as category 1 homeless, said O’Connell. All who could be reached by phone or text were offered shelter or warming rooms that day, O’Connell said. For those put in warming rooms, Impact continued to search for shelter space. Shelters are preferable because, in addition to offering social service programs, families can sometimes stay for up to 90 days, she added. In 2014, the last year for which complete figures are available, Impact received calls from 3,409 families seeking shelter. According to Impact’s assessment guidelines, 340 to 680 families needed immediate shelter, an average of 6.5 to 13 families per week. On average, Impact cannot find shelter for about half the families on the day they call, O’Connell said. Homeless mothers search through the clothing bank at United Way’s Homeless Connect, an all-day resource fair held annually at Marquette University. (Photo by Andrea Waxman) With a number of warming centers open during the recent cold snap there is currently some kind of shelter available for most of the homeless people in the city, she said. But for families with children at school and in daycare centers, gathering up the family and finding transportation to a shelter is difficult and sometimes impossible. O’Connell said she has brought this to the attention of government officials and funders and hopes this gap will be filled. The coordinated entry approach initiated by HUD and required for shelters receiving federal funds, has improved the process of getting the city’s most vulnerable homeless people into shelter, said Faith Kohler, a homeless advocate, volunteer and director of the film “30 Seconds Away: Breaking the Cycle,” about homelessness in Milwaukee.