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6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS WINTER SHELTER County Commissioners are listening Late in the summer last year, a small group of people camping out under the awning at the Growing Hope farmers market in downtown Ypsilanti were evicted by the police. This incident on August 27, 2023 and the movement it sparked ignited a wave of action among homelessness advocates, peace and justice activists and radicals. Since then, we have been coming to the Washtenaw County and City of Ypsilanti meetings with three demands: 1) Create and fund a dignified 24/7 shelter in Ypsilanti before spring 2024 2) Open a temporary shelter immediately. Fund and do not interfere with unofficial and temporary shelter spaces. End street sweeps and camp sweeps. 3) Ensure that the houseless and housing-insecure communities have decision-making and veto power in all Ypsilanti shelter spaces, and in their creation. So far, none have been met. However, at the Washtenaw County Commissioners meeting on February 21, 2024, I heard in their bureaucratic chatter the words the homeless advocates have been shouting: stop the sweeps, acknowledge the weather is always a safety hazard, and provide wraparound care to support the homeless and the recently housed. My younger comrades are skeptical. They have heard this song and dance before. So have I — I've seen the dog and pony show, and the circus with all the monkeys. We won’t be convinced until we see action, and we won’t stop until we see change. But now the commissioners seem like they may be ready to make a difference. I interviewed Commissioner Annie Somerville (District 6, Ypsilanti) about the status of efforts to alleviate homelessness in our County. We spoke of would be safer. Each year the Delonis Center emerJIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 money, where it comes from, how it’s meant to be spent and how to get it. The American Rescue Plan Act distributed $2.5 million to help struggling Americans. Included in the local package was $150,000 for short-term emergency motel stays, $710,000 for eviction prevention and $250,000 to support shelters including the Delonis Center. The money is distributed through the Office of Economic and Community Development, which also oversees the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. Interesting factoid, according to Somerville: The Delonis Center is underutilized. She says: “We have space at the shelter, it isn’t used because some people do not like congregate sleeping arrangements.” What she may not know is that people are avoiding Delonis because of the drugs, violence, theft and corruption of the staff. Last year, Mission’s Weather Amnesty (an overnight program sponsored by A2Mission.org to help people during lethal weather) took in people who were trespassed from Delonis for violating the shelter's safety rules. This year the program offers respite shelter to the general homeless population. The guests who stay there have almost all been to Delonis and have for the most part decided sleeping outside gency weather program and associated shelters (night and day shelters) close at the end of March. Anyone from Michigan knows that April and even parts of May are still capable of dangerous weather. There is talk of extending the overnight sheltering program to May 1. When I asked Somerville if there were any programs in place for the summer, she said there weren’t. Something Somerville wants the activists to understand is that the programs that have been shut down are not due to lack of funding, but to lack of staffing. “We don’t have the capacity for a second shelter,” says Somerville. “Without staffing and infrastructure, our hands are tied.” We didn’t talk about how much staff members get paid, but apparently not enough. Volunteers are even harder to get. In fact, the February issue of the “Eastern Echo” (the Eastern Michigan University paper) reports a decline in health and human services enrollment. From Philanthropy News Digest: “As demand for nonprofit services has increased, the number of Americans who volunteer has continued to decline, leaving many nonprofits across the country straining to provide services, the Washington Post reports.” Although Somerville and I did not talk about camp evictions or “sweeps,” the Sheriff’s Department did at the County Commission meeting Feb. 21. A sweep is when law enforcement uses force to remove people from encampments, often causing them to lose what little property they have. At the meeting, the Sheriff's Department claimed they do not conduct sweeps; however they do conduct a “civil standby” while private security companies do the eviction when an eviction is court ordered. Commissioner Caroline Sanders (District 4) spoke of “wraparound” care which is a commonly-used term for services such as mental health treatment, medical treatment, food and clothing assistance, and help accomplishing necessary tasks. These things would be provided by the County after a solution to the lack of shelter is found. The irony is that often the lack of wraparound care contributes to recidivist homelessness — especially when it comes to mental health crises. Moving into spring will make it more difficult for homelessness advocates. Warmer weather dulls the public's awareness of homelessness. Because it’s warmer, people tend to think the homeless need less support. The County Commissioners will soon be swamped with requests to fix potholes and boost tourism. Homelessness is a year-round phenomenon. For it to be alleviated, solutions must be found that go deeper than what casual observation might suggest: to just build more housing. What is needed is deep systemic change. To get to that, the County needs to listen to those experiencing homelessness. The demands at the beginning of the article were derived from the voices of unsheltered people in Ypsilanti. These demands are not all that is needed, but are a foundation that must be laid in order for any real changes to be made. Update: On Wednesday, March 20, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted to approve "a resolution to extend winter sheltering activities through April 30, 2024," meeting another demand of Shelter Now. The Board waived the second reading which would have otherwise occured on April 3. MARCH 22, 2024

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