Four years in the making, the new Bartillon Men’s Shelter is set to open on September 1st and welcome guests into the new space. The shelter, run by Porchlight, is giving guests the resources to work towards permanent housing is the main goal of this center and not using the temporary drop-in shelter model, making it one of a kind in Madison, said Porchlight Executive Director Karla Thennes. Madison’s other facilities specialize in temporary and emergency shelter.
What makes this shelter stand out even more from Madison’s other shelters is the demographics. The Bartillon Shelter, operated by Porchlight with funding from the City of Madison and Dane County, will specialize in serving Madison’s most vulnerable homeless men: elderly men 65 years of age or older, men with very serious physical health issues, and those in hospice. Those who rank on the Coordinated Entry’s vulnerability score are eligible to get a spot in the limited 250 beds. This is a common assessment of an individual’s vulnerability and complicating factors in the context of homelessness and housing services.
“It leaves out a lot of people,” said Thennes, who has worked with the organization for 35 years. ”That will be shocking. I mean, it’s certainly been shocking to us. It’ll be shocking to the community. But this is where we’re at, and so it will be different.”…