Tenant Resource Center Mid-Michigan Hosting Fundraiser on Sunday
It hasn’t always been clear how the Tenant Resource Center Mid-Michigan was going to meet the critical needs of the unhoused population and those on the verge of eviction in mid-Michigan, the organization’s Executive Director Khadja Erickson said, but despite unlikely odds, the center is still moving mountains.
The Tenant Resource Center Mid-Michigan, or TRC, has been primarily funded by a $400,000 Ingham County Housing Trust Fund grant. When the grant was awarded, the TRC was expected to help 175 people annually over the grant’s two-year lifespan.
In the year-and-a-half the center has been operating, it has helped about 1,500 people, Erickson said.
“It’s crazy. I couldn’t believe it. I feel like looking back at planning all of this and I didn’t even think we would get funding. It’s such a crazy resource. I’m grateful that we exist,” Erickson said.
In order to support the TRC’s work, which includes street outreach, food assistance and connecting individuals to safe housing options, several community groups are putting on a fundraiser event over the weekend.
The Peace Education Center, NAACP and other Greater Lansing Area groups are collaborating to put on the event at University United Methodist Church in East Lansing, where attendees can enjoy refreshments and live music and learn more about the TRC’s work and how they can support the center’s mission.
The event will run from 3:30-5 p.m. and will feature The Stan Craig Band, with vocalist Katherine Groll.
Erickson said she’s extremely grateful that the county took a chance on giving the TRC grant money and the center has not wasted a single opportunity it has been given, far exceeding the 175 person annual service goal. However, between funding emergency shelter and securing more permanent housing options for the people the center serves amidst homeless encampment sweeps, Erickson said the TRC has had to work miracles to serve the needs of unhoused residents in the Lansing area.
Last winter was a critical moment locally, Erickson said, as Lansing was implementing the disbandment of the large, long-standing “Fallen Angels” homeless encampment as a particularly brutal winter was commencing. And as East Lansing was considering camping and loitering bans that housing advocates said would criminalize unhoused individuals for existing in public spaces, she said it was a mad dash to ensure people found safe housing before they lost the encampment they had found safety and community in.
Lansing eventually dedicated $40,000 to find emergency housing and offer housing services in the hopes those from the encampment could find a more permanent housing solution, Erickson said, and it took a lot of community involvement and advocacy to secure that action.
“If we weren’t there to challenge the city, there’s no way we would have squeezed the 40k out of them to house the folks,” Erickson said. “They would have just been scattered in a really bad winter that started almost immediately after they were put in the hotels.”
The fundraising event Sunday will present the TRC the opportunity to share all that it’s been able to accomplish in its short time in operation, Erickson said, and inform local residents on the ways they can support the center.
Organizations like Edgewood United Church in East Lansing have been instrumental in helping the TRC serve the needs of unhoused individuals in the Mid-Michigan area. Erickson said the church gave the center $30,000 last winter to support emergency housing across the region during the winter storms.
Each quarter, the TRC’s street team interacts with nearly 300 individuals alongside other helping organizations like Punks with Lunch to support immediate needs like food, Erickson said, and with more funding, she hopes they can continue to expand the center’s reach.