JULY 24, 2026 WASHTENAW COUNTY Washtenaw Continuum of Care grapples with federal changes LINDSAY CALKA Publisher First, “Beyond the Bridge” screenings. Then “The Road Home” documentary production. Washtenaw County is fighting a local narrative battle in support of Housing First, and some might say winning. Now, as the Washtenaw County Continuum of Care approaches its first CoC grant competition shaped by the Trump administration’s priorities (see HUD on opposite page), it is preparing to fight a different battle. And it doesn’t matter as much to the success of the grant if the community supports Housing First and other best practices. Permanent Supportive Housing keeps people housed. That is why it is the housing resource we have most of locally. Investment in and maintenance of PSH comes at a cost — a cost that, for years, has been largely supplemented by federal funding. Funding for homeless assistance resources at the federal level has long been a competition, but typically 90-95% of the budget was guaranteed as “Tier 1” renewal projects. A much smaller “Tier 2” funded new programs competitively, and functions as the administration’s chance to offer policy shifts. This year, only 60% of Tier 1 funding is guaranteed for each CoC. Since HUD’s grant announcement on June 1, Washtenaw County Continuum of Care bodies have been crunching the numbers and assessing programs to “Maximize our potential for funding while making sure no one loses housing, maximizing PSH,” shared Andrew Kraemer, the County’s Data and Evaluation Specialist. They also have hired a consultant from Housing Innovations, Matt White, to support the grant process. The Washtenaw CoC Board provides coordinated oversight to HUD’s annual Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and CoC grant competition, both of which fund homelessness services and housing programs in Washtenaw County. Washtenaw’s local grant is finalized by a review team composed of people from the community who have knowledge of our system. In this grant cycle, Washtenaw will only seek $4,545,329 in Tier 1 to “preserve the most essential elements in our system,” said Kraemer — $150,000 for the Homeless Management Information System and the rest for permanent supportive housing projects through Avalon Housing and Michigan Ability Partners. SOS Community Services and Ozone House are turning their PSH into transitional housing for families and youth, respectively, and will be ranked at the top of Washtenaw’s Tier 2 application which is seeking $5,681,661 for those and many other projects. One new policy that influences the potential to receive this grant funding prohibits the purchase or distribution of drug paraphernalia. There is a clause in this policy that states “The CoC must not restrict or prohibit CoC-funded housing projects (PSH or TH) from requiring program participants to be sober or to participate in treatment as a condition of assistance.” Another policy is that CoC agencies must maintain formal and operational partnerships with local law enforcement agencies. Functionally, this means that street outreach teams will coordinate closer with police. On July 8, the Washtenaw CoC Board approved these policies to contribute to a better score. Andrew Kraemer explained, “We’re being asked to do things that go against our values … go against evidence. If we lose funds, we have to evict people.” Avalon and Michigan Ability Partners are collectively cutting $660,000. Still, this more-than-10% cut should not result in anyone being evicted, Kraemer assured. “They are rising to the challenge to become even leaner and maintain housing for everyone in our system. There’s a hope we can find local funding sources.” This is where the narrative battle really matters. Programs will be looking to make up the shortfall and plug newly-created gaps with a focus on state, county and city budgets, private foundations and individual funders. Sign up online for the CoC listserv to be informed about public meetings at www.washt enaw.org/continuum-of-care-coc. The application will be finalized and submitted Aug. 24. GROUNDCOVER NEWS U-M nurses reach tentative contract agreement Michigan Medicine serves over five million patients every year across its network of hospitals and 125 clinics. The academic medical center averages over 2.4 million outpatient and emergency visits, 48,000 hospital stays and 54,000 surgeries annually at its primary MIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 campus in Ann Arbor. Roughly 1-of-4 Michigan residents served by the system. There are 7,500 registered nurses at Michigan Medicine that were in highly contested contract negotiations following the expiration of their previous agreement on March 31, 2026. The nurses of Michigan Medicine, represented by the Professional Nurse Council (PNC) union (an affiliate of the Michigan Nurses Association or MNA), were demanding better staffing ratios, fair pay and protections against mandatory overtime. In the previous 2022 contract, nurses successfully negotiated a fouryear, 22.5% pay bump, bonus incentives and limits on mandatory overtime. The current dispute was largely centered on maintaining those safe workplace protections. The union stated during negotiations that management was offering annual raises of just 2% — which would not keep up with inflation — while allegedly attempting to increase patient-to-nurse ratios and force mandatory overtime. The union also filed unfair labor practice charges with the state over alleged union-busting tactics. Nurses planned a crucial strike authorization vote from July 13 through July 18. This vote would have allowed union leaders to call a strike if negotiations did not improve, but they reached a three-year tentative contract agreement with Michigan Medicine on July 9, 2026. In the agreement, nurses received: a wage increase of 13.25% over the three years (4% in year one, 4.5% in year two, and 4.75% in year three), plus a ratification bonus, stronger workplace violence protections and guaranteed better nurse-to-patient ratios, among other benefits. In the press release, UMPNC President Kara Ayotte wrote that the agreement represents a significant victory for the union’s 7,500 nurses. “This agreement delivers on members’ priorities, including competitive wage increases to recruit and retain excellent nurses, better staffing ratios, and stronger workplace violence protections,” Ayotte wrote. “Our success is a testament to not only countless days at the bargaining table, but also to the collective solidarity by MNA-UMPNC members.” Contract ratification occured July 19-24 at on-campus and off-site locations. Vote count will be July 24, 7 p.m. at Ford Auditorium. U-M nurses on "Wear Red Wednesday" July 1. Photo credit: University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council. 9 206 N. Washington St is an Avalon Housing PSH complex opening in Oct. 2026. Roughly 2,000 people applied for 14 available units.
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