Community leaders gave an update to Traverse City commissioners Monday on the status of the Pines encampment off Eleventh Street and pushed for a regional approach to addressing homelessness, including creating a joint city-county plan and a year-round community shelter. Advocates said there was unanimous agreement that the Pines is not an appropriate nor safe long-term solution and didn’t want to see the status quo next summer on the property, where between 80 and 120 unsheltered people are residing on any given day.

Traverse City Police Department Chief Matt Richmond said police have responded to the Pines 126 times since May 1, when Safe Harbor closed for the season. That number has already surpassed last year’s total number of incidents at the Pines between May 1 and October 14, when Safe Harbor reopened, Richmond said. There have also been 14 calls for service this summer on the Women’s Trail, 7 at Veterans Memorial Park, and 10 at the Eleventh/Division intersection – though Richmond noted that traffic incidents could be included in that last count.

Five individuals have been arrested on eight different charges at the Pines this season, and there have been eight assaults since May 1, according to the police chief. Drug use is a recurring problem on the property, particularly with bath salts, meth, and heroin, Richmond said. The city has ramped up efforts to address problematic behavior by giving Pines residents verbal and written warnings about ordinance violations, followed by citations if necessary. The TCPD has issued 17 citations this year for issues ranging from littering to camping outside of designated areas.

Richmond estimated there are 87 people living at the Pines currently, with another 30 or so that rotate in and out – meaning some days can see up to 120 unsheltered individuals on-site. In addition to hand-washing stations, restrooms, and solar-powered benches with phone-charging stations that were installed earlier this year, regular trash and syringe pick-ups are also taking place at the property, Richmond said. “It’s not perfect, but it’s probably the cleanest I’ve seen the Pines in a long time,” he said.

Community leaders said some initiatives are making a dent in addressing homelessness – though more resources are badly needed. The TCPD’s Quick Response Team (QRT) – which partners with dozens of local agencies to provide support services to individuals experiencing homelessness, substance misuse, and mental health issues – has received 45 referrals for residents in the Pines, or about half the Pines population. Twenty-nine of those individuals have signed the voluntary paperwork to participate in the program, said TCPD Social Worker Coordinator Jenn Holm.

In addition to connecting 122 total individuals to treatment across Traverse City, the QRT team has helped 47 people secure housing – 94 percent of whom have remained housed. “That is very exciting,” Holm said. Grand Traverse County commissioners are weighing a proposal to use opioid settlement funds to expand the QRT countywide, which could significantly broaden the program’s impact.

City tax breaks and funding support for East Bay Flats – which Goodwill is converting into permanent supportive housing on Munson Avenue – has also made a difference, community leaders said. Director Ashley Halladay-Schmandt of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness said there are about 250 people at any time in the five-county region experiencing homelessness, 70 of whom are chronically homeless (those who have been homeless a year or more and have a disability). The chronically homeless have a life expectancy of just 40 years compared to the U.S. average of nearly 80, Halladay-Schmandt said. Of the 64 units in East Bay Flats, 26 are being dedicated to the chronically homeless. She noted 33 total units are currently occupied, with 22 of those tenants having experienced chronic homelessness. Twelve were staying at the Pines prior to moving in, and 13 are receiving rental assistance from city funds. “Those are 13 people who will not die on the streets because of that funding,” she said.

Halladay-Schmandt said estimates from local providers show it costs about $2.5 million annually to “maintain 70 people in (a state of) chronic homelessness in our community.” By contrast, it costs under $1 million to house those 70 individuals, including rental subsidies and support services. Getting people into housing also makes every other aspect of support – from substance abuse treatment to mental health care to job placement – significantly more successful, Halladay-Schmandt said. “The effectiveness is just far greater when they’re stable and in housing,” she said.

Community leaders agreed more funding – for permanent housing, for support services, for staff – is critical, along with a year-round shelter and a unified regional plan to addressing homelessness. In addition to city commissioners approving a plan last week to spend more than $1.8 million in federal funding over the next five years on housing and homelessness initiatives, City Manager Liz Vogel said she’d likely return to commissioners soon with a request to provide more funding support to Jubilee House. A group called Community Cares Coalition is proposing to put a year-round emergency shelter in Garfield Township, while Safe Harbor is also willing to undertake a two-year pilot as a year-round shelter, advocates said. They called on the City of Traverse City and Grand Traverse County to create a joint city-county plan to address homelessness, with Mayor Amy Shamroe adding that more township leaders also need to be at the table.

Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation President and CEO Dave Mengebier and Rotary Charities CEO Sakura Takano have convened local stakeholder meetings since April with a wide range of agencies, service providers, churches, and neighborhood associations on concerns and solutions regarding homelessness. Though diverse, those stakeholders unanimously agree that “the Pines is not appropriate nor safe for people who must live there, for the providers, and for law enforcement,” Takano said. Mengebier urged timely collaboration to avoid a repeat of the current situation at the Pines next year, saying any meaningful solutions will take time and “significant resources.”

“We believe our community has the talent, the resources, and the will to ensure that next summer we will not have 100 people living in the trees and the mud at the Pines,” he said, “and have a shelter coordinated with supportive services and eventually permanent housing that restores the dignity and safety of our homeless community.”