MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee police have declared a downtown church a public nuisance for allowing the homeless to sit outside during the day and sleep on its front lawn overnight. The church will have to pay $275 each time police are called to the property, according to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

It is legal for the homeless to be on St. James Episcopal Church's property since the church gave its permission, but the practice has created a nuisance, according to police, because some of the homeless harass passers-by and commit crimes. The church is located in a busy neighborhood next to Marquette University.

Police records show five police calls to the church in May, two in June, two in late July and another on Aug. 2. The calls were related to public drinking, loitering and trespassing, battery and one incident of throwing beer bottles.

Milwaukee alderman Paul Henningsen, who represents downtown, said the church deserves praise for its work, which includes serving breakfast to more than 200 people a day. But the church must be held accountable for what happens on its property, Henningsen said.

"I don't think the church should be so blind to the consequences of what they're countenancing," he said.

The church's rector, the Rev. Debra Trakel, said she has instructed the homeless who regularly visit the church that police will be called for any lawbreaking, including public drinking, urination or aggressive panhandling. Some of the church's neighbors, though, don't want the homeless around at all, Trakel said.

"To me, they're children of God. To them, they're bums," she said.

Trakel said developers and neighbors, along with the city, should pitch in to provide better services for the homeless, including public toilets.

" ‘Come and meet Jesus Christ' and ‘No loitering' are incompatible messages" for her church, Trakel said.