The future of the former Pugsley Correctional Facility in Kingsley could (finally) be taking shape. The one-time prison hit the market with a $3.95 million price tag last fall, after a years-long effort by owner the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) – to convert the expansive property into an economic innovation hub. Now, listing agent Marty Stevenson of EXIT Realty Paramount says there's a deal on the table, with a Grand Rapids-based buyer hoping to turn the site into transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness.

The prospective buyer is Exodus Place, a nonprofit with a mission to “provide development and rapid re-housing for vulnerable men who are experiencing homelessness.” The organization seeks to “provide a hand up rather than a handout,” and to equip individuals experiencing homelessness with the “physical, emotional, mental and spiritual tools for successful reintegration into the community.”

According to the organization’s website, Exodus Place took form in 2009 when President and CEO Robb Munger “gathered with four homeless men…with the goal of remodeling a corrections facility on the Grand River into a haven for homeless men.”

Now the largest transitional housing facility in the state, Exodus Place provides housing for 130 people, among other services. Tenants pay “membership dues,” which include housing, case management, medical care, spiritual advising, clothing services, education, access to addiction treatment, member activities, and a barbershop. Per the Exodus Place website, dues are $475 per month for a shared room or $630 per month for a private room; enrollment in the organization’s food program – which is required for members – costs an additional $189 per month, “but can be paid through a bridge card.” All tenants are expected to be employed, and many work at Exodus Place as part of the organization’s workforce development program.

Still, the organization’s education and case management services are intended to help members “secure employment outside of our facility.” Munger says most members only end up living at Exodus Place for between a month and a year, though there is no limit on how long tenants can live there, provided they adhere to bans on alcohol, drugs, and pornography.

Trying to rush those tenants out of Exodus Place and into the next stages of recovery, Munger says, led to higher-than-desired rates of recidivism. “We decided we’re going to work with each person monthly, and we're going to see their progress, and once they get to a point where there’s $2,000 or $3,000 sitting in the bank, and they’ve got their child support or their fines paid off, and they have a stable job, then we're going to help them move up.”

These days, Munger says Exodus Place boasts a recidivism rate of 8 percent, as well as a long list of past-member success stories. 

Munger tells The Ticker that GTB has accepted a $1.9 million offer, contingent on his ability to obtain a $5 million grant from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) to fund renovations.

If the Pugsley deal goes through, it would represent a significant expansion of the Exodus Place mission. The organization’s current home in Grand Rapids is a 35,000-square-foot building with approximately 130 beds. The Pugsley site encompasses 105 acres of land and 136,000 square feet of building space. All told, Munger estimates Pugsley could be converted into micro apartments for up to 1,000 people. Because of staffing requirements, Munger says the transitional housing aspect of the facility “would probably be maxed out around 300.” However, because Pugsley is such a sizable facility, he also hopes to build workforce housing on the site for another 700 people. Much of that housing would be intended for people “graduating” from Exodus programs – including the one in Grand Rapids.

So how much space at Pugsley would be set aside for northern Michigan homeless populations? Right now, there are about 270 people experiencing homelessness in the 10-county region served by the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness, 70 of whom are “chronically homeless.” In theory, a project like Exodus Place could help significantly reduce the number of people living unhoused, and Munger says he is absolutely interested in that goal.

But Munger is also very interested in using Pugsley as an extension of Exodus Place Grand Rapids, which could mean moving people who have experienced homelessness downstate out of the city and to northern Michigan. It’s not just Grand Rapids, either: Munger has also mentioned other downstate cities – like Detroit and Lansing – as areas whose homeless populations could benefit from the Pugsley project.

Ashley Halladay-Schmandt, director of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness, tells The Ticker that she and her colleagues “have heard rumblings” about the potential Pugsley purchase, but that “no one from Exodus Place has reached out to any providers within the Coalition as of yet.” For her part, Halladay-Schmandt is wary of a model that would take people out of Grand Rapids or other cities and move them north.

“It is worrisome that people experiencing homelessness in other communities would be transported to a community they are not familiar with,” Halladay-Schmandt says. “It's best practice to help people experiencing homelessness find housing in communities they choose to live in with supports they are connected to.”

But Munger says a significant number of Grand Rapids Exodus Place graduates “actually grew up in Cadillac or in the Traverse City area, and would like move back up there but can't afford Traverse City prices.” He sees the workforce housing component he’s planning at Pugsley as a good opening for those people to move north.

Exodus Place and the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness also simply represent opposing sides of a larger debate about how best to eliminate homelessness. Transitional housing is considered a part of the “traditional” method, which uses a step-down approach to move individuals gradually from a high level of care and services (ranging from temporary shelter to detoxification to counseling) toward independent living. A newer approach, called “Housing First,” does provide these types of services to a certain extent, but operates on the philosophy that a person first needs a place to live before true recovery can begin. Exodus Place is part of the traditional approach, while the Coalition follows the Housing First philosophy.

Halladay-Schmandt criticizes transitional housing as “an outdated model and not one that aligns with a Housing First approach that has been proven to work,” adding that “permanent housing solutions help us end homelessness.” The Coalition’s efforts, including a current campaign to end chronic homelessness in the 10-county region by 2028, focus largely on those permanent housing strategies.

While Munger is hoping to connect and collaborate with the Coalition, he admits he is at odds with their approach.

“I don’t believe in the Housing First model,” Munger says. “I think that transitional housing creates a relationship that gets [people experiencing homelessness] stabilized, and then when they transition into more permanent housing, it's going to stick. If you take a person that's homeless, that's doing drugs, that has high anxiety, that hasn't had any coaching or any services, and then you just stick them into an apartment, they’re going to fail.”

Munger is also confident he can help formerly-homeless individuals find stability at Pugsley – first by providing support services, then by helping them secure employment. Though he lives in Grand Rapids, Munger has been a major player in the economic development of Cadillac, buying and revitalizing a variety of blighted properties over the years. “So, I have quite a few friends and commercial tenants in Cadillac that are looking for employees,” he says. “And Pugsley is only a 20 or 25-minute drive, so it could be a really good feeder for employers.” Munger also says he’s gotten a few calls from businesses that are interested in opening manufacturing or warehousing businesses on the Pugsley property itself, which he sees as additional work opportunities for tenants.

Those interested in learning more about Munger’s plans can attend the meeting of the Fife Lake Township Board scheduled for 6:30pm tonight (Thursday, July 27). Munger will be on hand to share details about the Pugsley purchase.