Homelessness in Midland County

The Tridge and Emerson Park are places in Midland to view, feel, and be, a community. When the day darkens, though, not all retreat to the cozy indoors uptown.

That’s right. People are homeless in Midland County.

“We have people sleeping under the Tridge. If you go out there right now, you’ll probably see them,” Rob Worsley said at Thursday’s panel discussion on homelessness in the county, noting eight to 10 male clients of the Midland Community Former Offenders Advocacy and Rehabilitation, for which he is the program director, were living in Emerson Park.

“We do have people who would be living on sidewalks or streets but the city doesn’t allow it. They just keep moving around when the police come.”

Others find shelter in tents, garages or campers in backyards, Worsley said.

“We do have people living in the woods in Sanford,” he said.

And, in actual shelters.

“There are times when our shelters are full,” said Renee Pettinger, executive director of Midland’s Open Door, adding some stay one night and others months or more.

“Storied Streets,” a 2014 documentary directed by Jack Henry Robbins and Thomas Morgan, was shown in the Grace A. Dow Library on Thursday. Film crews followed homeless men and women, young and old, black and white, with and without children, in Los Angeles, Denver, Virginia Beach, Charlotte and Joplin. Mark, an addict since he was 13, and Vernon, both homeless, rummage dumpsters in Denver. Amy, in Virginia Beach, camped in the woods for two years. Another hopped freight trains and hitchhiked. One remembered the emotional harm of no one speaking his name for three months.

A few dozen people watched. Heads shook.

“Geez,” someone said.

When the film ended, a panel of eight people representing as many agencies or organizations that in one or more ways help the homeless took questions from the audience in an effort to educate, increase awareness, dispel misconceptions and negative attitudes and encourage others to actively engage in creating practical solutions for the homeless in Midland County.

Agencies in 2006 drafted a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Midland County. Yet in 2015, More than 300 individuals were either living in shelters such as Midland’s Open Door and Shelterhouse, or doubled up with friends or family, “couch-surfing,” living in an automobile, or facing eviction, according to a “point in time” count of homeless people taken at the end of every January.

Most of the homeless in Midland are what’s known as “invisibly homeless,” said John Congleton, director of New Hope Village, a nonprofit.

“They’re living with somebody, they’re living in a place that’s not fit for human habitation, or they’re in a shelter somewhere.

“So you don’t see the homeless in the city,” Congleton added. “That doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

And many are near homeless, said Nancy Money, executive director of Midland Area Homes.

Pettinger said Midland’s Open Door served 270 homeless individuals in 2015. This year, it has already worked with 320.

At Midland Public Schools, there are 100 students who don’t have a place to stay, said Jana Kullick, a liaison for the district.

“They’re staying, overwhelmingly, with friends and family,” she said.

Many seeking help are turned away. At the Open Door, the number was 62 last year.

“A third were single mothers,” Pettinger said.

Congleton said New Hope Village worked with 33 families in several counties over nine months of operation since founded two years ago.

“In that same time, we turned away over 100 families,” he said, noting about 50 to 60 were from Midland County.

Emily Homberger-Sieg, court liaison for Shelterhouse, said since 2006, the facility has turned away 120 people annually, adults and children included.

Panelists agreed homelessness awareness isn’t lacking in Midland County.

But affordable, low-income housing is in short supply, they said.

“There just isn’t enough,” Worsley said.

Fair market rent for a two-bedroom place, is close to $800, Money said.

“For most people, that’s not affordable,” said Congleton, adding one would need to earn $24 or $25 an hour if living alone.

What’s deemed affordable, in reality, isn’t for Worsley’s clients. And buddying up to split costs isn’t always an option: many felons cannot have roommates, he said.

Ninety-five percent of clients are felony offenders at Midland Community Former Offenders Advocacy & Rehabilitation, at 1415 Washington St., Worsley said. Many are repeat offenders. The agency has a 75 percent placement rate for those seeking employment, but many are fit with minimum wage jobs, he said.

Panelists agreed that agencies need to work on making services more accessible to people without phones, internet access or vehicles.

The intangibles need attention, too: Pettinger said the Open Door tries to create support systems and relationships to build emotional stability for the homeless.

“Basically making them socially rich, is what we want to do,” she said.

An audience member asked how she could help people in the Ashman Circle area?

“A lot of them do live at the Open Door,” Pettinger said, adding that offering them toiletries may not be best because they are provided at the shelter. “Instead, talk to them and get to know them and their story. Just be interested in them as a person.”

Added Worsley: “Basically, what they’re looking for is interaction.”

The event was sponsored by the Midland County Continuum of Care Homeless Population Task Force and coordinated by Midland’s Open Door and Midland Area Homes.

For those who need help, there are several agencies in the city:

Midland’s Open Door, 412 W. Buttles St., (989) 835-2291 and midlandopendoor.org

Shelterhouse, 3115 Isabella St., (989) 835-6771 and shelterhousemidland.org

New Hope Village, 3500 N. West River Road in Sanford, (989) 615-7066 and newhopemidland.org

Midland Area Homes Housing Assistance Center, 1825 Bay City Road, (989) 496-9550 and midlandareahomes.org

Midland Community Former Offenders Advocacy and Rehabilitation, 1415 Washington St., (989) 832-8533 and midlandcommunityformeroffenders.org

211 Northeast Michigan, dial 2-1-1 or visit 211nemichigan.org

MidMichigan Community Action, 1409 Washington St., (989) 832-7377 and mmcaa.org