6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS MAKING CHANGE The public has spoken: "We need shelter now!" GROUNDCOVER NEWS It was standing room only at the Washtenaw County Municipal Building on Wednesday, October 18. Most attendees were wearing the same sticker on their chests: “I support more funding for winter…” When public comment began, there was no question what the increased attendance at the Board of Commissioners meeting was supporting. A banner painted with “Shelter Now” was raised for all Commissioners to read. If you’ve been following Groundcover News recently, you’ll recall two articles written by Jim Clark, vendor No. 139, about the grassroots campaign, entitled “Shelter Now,” organized around three demands to expand and improve sheltering services in Washtenaw County. 21 members of the homeless community addressed the Board of Commissioners during public comment. Read some of their comments below, advocating for shelter. CALEB POIRIER “Having talked with folks who keep track of the census of the people who are attempting to get into the shelter, there is a 140-person-long waiting list to get into the shelter. This was made real to me earlier this week with a young woman (...) who has two twins in her stomach, several months pregnant, [and is] currently living under an overhang. Some folks feel that it’s only appropriate to house folks once they have a child, but I think that while you’re pregnant is a very dangerous time to be unhoused, and she is one of those 140 people who is unhoused. Currently there’s a disparity between the amount of services provided between Washtenaw County’s two sister cities where a majority of the population lives, in both Ypsi and Ann Arbor. In Ypsilanti there is a rotating shelter that’s supposed to move from faith community to faith community like it does in Ann Arbor, and that rotating shelter does not rotate because there’s only one faith community that has signed up in Ypsilanti. There has been an ask made of a multitude of faith communities in Ypsilanti to participate with the shelter in accomplishing the rotating shelter there. So this is an ask to everyone who has friends in a faith community of any kind, or knows of buildings that are open, to consider reaching out to the shelter to make that happen.” COLLIN SPRY “I just came here to speak from the heart. I’ve been homeless since 2019 when my wife died in a car accident. She was the last family that I had, and without her, I’ve had nobody. I’ve been living on the streets of Ann Arbor basically because Ann Arbor is a special community. I’ve been all over the country via freight trains, and I’ve seen NOVEMBER 3, 2023 Magnus the Entertainer addressing the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners during public comment. He was one of 21 speakers who addressed the lack of shelter in the County. all different walks of life, and this place is an anomaly. There is what I would call an actual homeless community. There are people here that actually take care of each other. We’re like family. And then there is a community that takes care of our community. People like Peggy, Gracie, Cynthia, look out for us in ways that nobody else around the country I’ve ever seen see PUBLIC next page
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