Attendees at Hidden Hardships: Homelessness in the U.P. participate in a breakout session at Northern Michigan University’s Northern Center on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Brent Clark)

By ALEXANDRIA

BOURNONVILLE

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — Many in the general population aren’t exposed to and are unaware of the hardships homeless people face on a daily basis. Even fewer are knowledgeable about how to help.

The Central 10-County Local Planning Body and the Associated Students of Northern Michigan University hosted an event to raise understanding about problems that contribute to people experiencing homelessness.

Various organizations’ representatives mingled and collaborated at the event under the theme “Everyone has a role in ending homelessness.” Its purpose was to create a dialogue within the community about how to better support those who are unhoused in honor of Homelessness Awareness Month.

In the U.P., it’s estimated that 166 households experience homelessness on any given night. Only three counties in the U.P. have a shelter for people experiencing homelessness and five counties have shelters for people experiencing homelessness due to domestic or sexual violence.

“The demand for our emergency shelter services in the U.P. and other housing services has far exceeded our current supply and we are here to sound the alarm. The solution to ending homelessness is not more homeless shelters, but rather community-driven affordable housing solutions,” said Room at the Inn Executive Director Chelsie Wilkinson.

Room at the Inn is a homeless shelter located in downtown Marquette on West Washington Street with 28 beds for those who are unhoused and need a temporary place to stay.

Survivors of domestic or sexual violence as well as their families in Marquette County can find shelter at the Women’s Center’s Harbor House. Their pets can be taken care of in the Sasawin Safe Haven animal shelter, a collaborative effort between NMU, the Women’s Center and UPAWS.

Janzen House provides transitional housing and shelter for low income and homeless individuals along with services to assist residents in securing employment, permanent housing and more.

Superior Connections supports people who are homeless or near homelessness who are recovering from substance abuse disorders. Ryan Redmond, Superior Connections executive director, said the organization works with individuals in a way that maintains their dignity and autonomy.

Redmond believes no one should lose their right to live in a place they choose based on their usage of drugs.

According to Superior Connections, approximately 17.6 million Americans are addicted to alcohol, while 600,000 Americans experience homelessness each night (not all of whom are addicted). Seventeen million Americans use or abuse substances, but also have housing.

“Nonprofit organizations, despite their cause, are hard-wired to share success stories, to showcase their incredible work and rally support for their mission. Historically, Homelessness Awareness Month has been an opportunity for us to do exactly that, but for tonight … we’re not focused on success stories. While the individuals who find homes, jobs and long- term stability deserve to be celebrated for those victories, the reality is that there are far more people who do not get that ‘happily ever after,'” Wilkinson said.

“Service access is funny for homelessness because for regular emergencies, you all know what to do in the event of an emergency … (homelessness) is an emergency just as any other, but people don’t know how to access service,” said Nick Emmerdorfer, LPB chairperson.

He stressed that in order to help someone experiencing homelessness, it’s not always necessary to call 911. Rather, call 211. That number will bring you to a center that will direct your call toward a variety of community resources — including urgent housing assistance.

Otherwise, he recommended the following steps:

“You’re going to call Community Action. It’s just a regular number: 906-228-6522 ext. 207 and that’s going to connect you to services. From there, they’re going to do an intake assessment to determine your acuity needs, they’re going to make a referral from there to the appropriate service,” Emmendorfer said. “From there, a housing resource specialist from Community Action will try to connect with the individual about housing programs, wait lists for housing vouchers and finally they’re going to be put on that by-name list.”

Emmerdorfer then described his organization, the LPB, as “a team of nonprofits in the central U.P. that work together to coordinate services and administer HUD (Housing and Urban Development) funding that comes down annually (from the state) and try to put that HUD funding into agencies that need it to provide services in our communities.”

This LPB covers the central U.P. counties of Marquette, Alger, Baraga, Keweenaw, Houghton, Menominee, Delta, Schoolcraft, Iron and Dickinson.

HUD funding comes from the larger 64-county collaborative under the umbrella of the state, he said. The collaborative then has a monthly meeting — the Governance Council — which smaller LPBs attend to stay up to date with available programs, grant opportunities and HUD funding.

The area’s LPB conducts by-name list meetings where they take a real time look at the list of people experiencing homelessness and try to put those people into services or coordinate them into agencies.

They additionally hold a point-in-time count in January where service providers go out on foot and try to count the number of unhoused people, whether sheltered or unsheltered.

Wilkinson called the workers the “backbone” of the effort to provide shelter for the homeless and deserve recognition.

“This commitment, however, is severely underpaid and frequently puts them at risk of burnout — a harsh reality that demands our attention,” she said. “According to a 2023 report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the national homeless workforce center is grappling with a deficit of at least 4.8 billion — with a ‘b’ — dollars required to adequately compensate current workers…. They deserve more than our gratitude, they deserve a liveable wage.”

In the spirit of recognizing the workers who give their time to help others, Emmendorfer and Janzen House director Brent Clark presented the Helen McCormick Volunteer of the Year Award to advocate Robert Kulisheck.

Kulisheck has been a dedicated shelter volunteer since the 1980s, when he rallied the community around the Janzen House, saving it from being shut down. Due to his continuous work in the homeless sector over the last 40 years, Janzen House has provided “approximately half a million nights of shelter” since its inception.

“Homelessness comes in many different forms and some of the ways of dealing with homelessness is to deal with it before it occurs. You have to be proactive. For example, something we usually forget, but we see it every day when we drive around town is the Marquette Public Housing Commission. Look at all of the high-quality, low-income housing that’s provided in the community. Were it not for that, there would be families on the street,” Kulisheck said.

Wilkinson echoed Kulisheck’s sentiment when she said: “Shelters won’t end homelessness, permanent housing will.”

Alexandria Bournonville can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 506. Her email address is abournonville@miningjournal.net.