Madison and Capitol police announced their intention to clear out a homeless encampment near the state capitol on Monday as law enforcement attempts to keep up with increases in the city’s homeless population.
The announcement will be a welcome development for the city’s residents as the Madison Police Department reported an influx of calls regarding the encampment starting in early July, according to MPD Captain Kipp Hartman.
“The harassment that the neighbors are experiencing as well as the businesses, we have been fielding a lot of complaints from the residents that have been living in that area,” said Captain Hartman.
Captain Hartman said that capitol police and the Madison Police Department will work with nonprofits and municipal government officials in the area to attempt to provide resources for the homeless people being cleared out of the encampment.
“We’re working with Catalyst for Change, we are working with the Beacon, our mental health officers are making contact with people if we feel that they need the mental health resources,” Hartman said.
While some people hailed the decision, others said that without wider reform the move would just be solving the symptoms, and not the source of the city’s increasing homelessness problem. (RELATED: Evers Vetoes Crime Bill on Probation, Parole, and Extended Supervision)
“We’re supposed to do something about it, but we don’t have an answer either,” Brenda Konkel, executive director of Madison Street Medicine, said. “We can tell them, we can communicate with them, we can try to help, but wherever they go, they will just get pushed out of there next.
Dane County has continued to see an increase in the homeless population, with nearly 800 people being counted as homeless this year, representing an 7% increase from 2024.
According to the Heritage Foundation, the surge in homelessness highlights the failure of Democrat-run cities that have leaned heavily on “housing first” strategies. The group argues that these policies, while costly, have done little to reduce overall homelessness because they don’t address underlying issues like addiction, mental illness, and unemployment.
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