While Madison’s Board of Public Works recently voted to move forward with demolishing the city’s first sanctioned encampment for people experiencing homelessness, a proposed collaboration between the City Council and the County Board could allow the site to remain operational until next spring.
At the City Council’s meeting Tuesday night, Ald. Davy Mayer introduced a resolution to again extend the contract between the city and the organization that operates the Dairy Drive encampment on Madison’s far east side — using potential county dollars. City Council members next plan to discuss the future of the site at 3202 Dairy Drive during their Sept. 16 meeting after it goes through the Finance and City-County Homeless Committees.
The tiny housing village dubbed “Dairy Drive” opened four years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to a significant presence of homeless encampments in Reindahl Park. The city intended for the site to operate for two years, but it has remained a resource for people transitioning out of chronic homelessness for nearly double that time…