The coronavirus pandemic -- already devastating to the area’s homeless population -- might just be the catalyst to bring about systemic change for that population, or so hope leaders of several organizations now collaborating even further to secure housing solutions.

Most community organizations serving this population coexist under the umbrella of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness but operate independently, including Goodwill Northern Michigan, Safe Harbor of Grand Traverse, Central United Methodist Church, Jubilee House, Northern Michigan Supportive Housing (NMSH), and Northern Michigan Community Action Agency (NMCAA). Leaders of those groups say the pandemic has spurred even more collaboration and action.

“Many of us [involved in the Coalition] were always mission-driven in the same efforts, but there's really been an effort to unite all of the organizations and push forward in ending homelessness in this community,” says Becca Binder, executive director of NMSH.

According to Dan Buron, who serves as executive director for Goodwill Northern Michigan and leads the Homelessness Committee for the Grand Traverse County COVID-19 Joint Operations Center, the pandemic has illustrated “the disparate impact this kind of situation has on more vulnerable populations.” Locally, COVID-19 has made providing essential services to the homeless even more challenging; before the pandemic, Central United Methodist operated a hot breakfast for local homeless populations from 8:30-10:30am Monday through Friday. That “morning shelter” program also gave individuals the opportunity to access showers, get haircuts, meet with case workers, and consult with healthcare professionals. Pastor Jane Lippert, who serves as community outreach coordinator for the church, says the morning shelter would typically serve 80 meals per session. But the church has been unable to accommodate indoor shelter activities and has scaled back its outreach activities to just a Thursday lunch.

Buron says that early in the pandemic, the strategy was one of crisis response. Goodwill of Northern Michigan worked to identify members of the homelessness population who were immunocompromised and got them into local motels to isolate them from potential risk, while Safe Harbor established a day shelter at its facility on Wellington Street. The day shelter operates from 1-4pm Monday through Friday and provides opportunities for local homeless to take showers, use laundry facilities, charge phones, or use computers.

Now, though, Buron aims to move beyond crisis and create lasting, systemic change. “Now we have a chance to take a step back and say, ‘How do we utilize this crisis pandemic to achieve a greater aim and goal?’ And that requires us to think differently. It takes a lot of resources and energy to maintain people in homelessness, so our goal is to say, ‘Let's change the paradigm. Let's focus on getting people out of homelessness, so that this can be a much more manageable situation going forward.’”

Binder tells The Ticker that, based on national averages, it costs taxpayers approximately $35,000 to support a single person on the streets for a year – a combination of community resources, hospital expenses, psychiatric centers, and other costs. “In permanent supportive housing, you can do it for about $12,000,” she says. Binder adds that, in Traverse City, 90 people are living on the streets and sleeping outside on any given night.

NMSH works as a go-between for the local homeless and landlords or property managers, using federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to subsidize rents. The organization also plays an ongoing case management role for recently-housed individuals, assisting with everything from getting furniture and establishing a sense of home to cleaning and taking out the trash. Playing that support role, Binder says, both gives landlords peace of mind and helps establish stability for ex-homeless individuals who may not immediately “trust” their new situation.  

The biggest ongoing challenge is the limited housing available. Ashley Halladay-Schmandt, executive director of the Coalition to End Homelessness, says that $100,000 of rental assistance funding in the Grand Traverse region goes unused every single day. Lippert notes that she regularly speaks with members of the homeless community who have housing vouchers but can’t find anything in their price range (funded through the federal Rapid Re-Housing program, the vouchers come with a maximum allowable rent). Danielle Cornish, a local homeless woman who died of exposure in early April after sleeping outside, had a housing voucher and was looking for an apartment with a suitable rent rate.

“We have the system, we have the supports, we have the Coalition partners aligned with this work; we just don't have the housing,” Halladay-Schmandt explains. “So that's what we really need to keep asking the community, is to help us with housing. And that can look like anything from partnering with us on developments to a landlord who has some space that they're willing to rent.”

Going forward, Buron says there will be a considerably bigger push to connect with local landlords and property owners. “We’re trying to tap into the market of people who may have apartments or accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that they're not currently renting. I don't know how big that market is, but I do know people who have ADUs they aren't currently renting. We’re hoping that, through a larger campaign, we can increase the amount of housing available in the marketplace.”

As for development of new affordable housing, the Coalition isn’t giving up on that route either – though Binder recognizes that affordable housing projects tend to draw pushback from locals.

“We're not asking for a whole apartment complex for the homeless,” she says. “We're just asking that our community build in a place for people who utilize Coalition resources. If a new development is going up with 100 apartments, maybe we can have one or two of those units set aside for a Coalition partnership. I think the community gets overwhelmed as to what we're asking for, but we just need a place for the people that we serve, who are also members of this community.”