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Last winter, Eric Zieroth learned that multiple layers and a down blanket were the best way to keep warm while living in his car in far northwestern Wisconsin.
For over a year, he and his then-20-year-old daughter Christina Hubbell regularly parked in a corner spot at a public boat landing a mile outside Shell Lake, where they had spent most of their lives. Now, because they are homeless, they have been ostracized for showering, parking and sleeping in public places.
Washburn County has no homeless shelters. Hubbell’s job at a dollar store keeps them from relocating to a shelter in another county. They are on a waitlist for a low-income housing unit.
Zieroth is awaiting a surgery that will allow him to get back to work. If it weren’t for his daughter, the former mechanic said he might consider committing a crime and getting booked into jail instead of spending another winter in the vehicle.