East Lansing Funds Emergency Housing While Leaders Promise to Explore Longterm Solutions
After spending $10,000 to provide emergency housing in hotels during the coldest days of an especially frigid winter, City Manager Robert Belleman will request additional funding to continue to provide emergency housing.
East Lansing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director Elaine Hardy worked with a Quality Inn & Suites to provide 11 rooms for 33 people over a 10-day stretch starting Jan. 23, when the City of Lansing activated its Cold Blue emergency plan. The plan is activated when temperatures becomes dangerously cold, and includes using community centers as overnight warming centers and allowing local shelters to temporarily increase their capacity.
East Lansing bought hotel rooms a second time from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9, this time purchasing six rooms for 11 people. The hotel provided the city with a discount on the rooms, with each costing around $90 per night.
In recent months, the lack of resources available to unhoused people in East Lansing has drawn criticism. Community members have accused the city of attempting to push unhoused people to neighboring Lansing, as the East Lansing City Council continues to consider new bans on public camping and loitering parking garages. City leaders who spoke with East Lansing Info say they are not looking to push unhoused people out of East Lansing and are looking to increase resources.
“We often will hear conversations about the unhoused community being in Lansing or in East Lansing,” Hardy said. “There’s no walls up between our cities or townships … and I don’t think we need to think [of] unhoused individuals as problems, they are part of the fabric of our community.”
Belleman said he has spent much of the $20,000 discretionary fund the city manager has control over to provide emergency housing in hotels. He said he is going to ask City Council to authorize an additional $10,000, so the city can continue to provide emergency shelter.
“I’m going to probably come close to that $20,000, but I want Council to authorize up to $30,000 to allow me to continue through March when necessary,” Belleman said. “Maybe even the early part of April, if the weather continues to be cold and snowy.”
While nothing has been decided, Hardy thinks providing emergency shelter in hotels can be part of a protocol going forward.
“In my view, I think that short-term overnight emergency shelter in hotels is a workable part of a full protocol for helping to support our unhoused community members,” Hardy said, going on to say the city needs to identify longer-term solutions such as building attainable housing.
Behind the scenes, Belleman asked Hardy, Principal Planner Landon Bartley and Community and Economic Development Director Heather Pope to work on identifying improvements to transitional housing and pathways to becoming housed full-time. The three will eventually invite community members to talk about solutions.
Belleman added that he’s hopeful new developments will improve housing in East Lansing. There are two proposed apartment complexes that, while expensive, would increase the city’s housing stock, potentially easing the strain on the market. Additionally, the city is hopeful the long-awaited Emerald Point Apartments will finally come to fruition, as developers are still seeking state tax credits before breaking ground on the low-income housing project.
It isn’t just city government that has adapted to provide emergency resources during an especially harsh winter, nonprofit organizations have expanded their offerings as well.
The Women’s Center of Greater Lansing became a temporary warming center for 10 days, and is exploring building a coalition with other area nonprofit organizations to support the unhoused community.
With the support of its staff and board, the Women’s Center became a 24-hour warming center after quickly obtaining necessary permits from Lansing to increase its capacity.
Operating a warming center has been an eye-opening experience, Women’s Center Executive Director Rebecca Kasen said.
“It was a lot of learning for us about who are the unhoused population who are not in the shelter,” Kasen said. “Some of them just don’t feel safe in shelters … a lot of them had pretty significant mental health needs which were playing out in self-medication through drugs… Overall, I would say more than 90% of the people here were respectful and just looking for a place to keep warm.”
Kasen said most people were respectful of the center’s rules, such as not using drugs on the premises. However, some people were asked to leave the property.
“We realized ‘wow there is a huge problem with drugs,’” Kasen said. To address problems, the Women’s Center began a partnership with Punks With Lunch, a Lansing nonprofit organization that provides resources to unhoused people, Kasen added.
During the 10 days, there was 24-hour security on site for $600 per day. The center received a discount as a favor from Velocity Security Solutions.
“When people are talking about the cost for security, it’s not as high as people think,” Kasen said. “My hope is that both cities, East Lansing and Lansing, look into this for the next Code Blue.”
This was the first time the Women’s Center has been a warming center, and the organization would take on the role again if needed, Kasen said. However, opening more warming centers is not a replacement for longterm housing solutions.
Kasen shared that a small coalition is being built to determine the feasibility of different housing options, including cooperative living with staffing or supportive living. The coalition so far includes the Women’s Center, Punks with Lunch and The Fledge, a Lansing community center.
“None of us are housing groups … none of us have millions upon millions of dollars sitting in accounts,” Kasen said. “We shouldn’t be the ones taking the lead on this. Unfortunately, those who should be taking the lead aren’t … we need groups that have the means and history of doing this successfully to step up and do it and do it with dignity.”
The title of this story was updated.