Goodwill, city team up on housing plan for chronically homeless

May 3—TRAVERSE CITY — Apartments in a former hotel in Traverse City could soon become home for as many as 27 people currently without shelter.

That's if city commissioners agree to a $360,000 service contract with Goodwill Northern Michigan that City Manager Liz Vogel is planning to request on Monday.

Goodwill Northern Michigan is seeking to bridge a year long gap in funding for East Bay Flats, an apartment building on Munson Avenue that it bought in November, Vogel said.

The city commission will meet after Safe Harbor, an overnight homeless shelter on Wellington Street, closed for the season April 30. Each of its guests had to find somewhere else to spend the night, and several went to a wooded area near Eleventh and Division streets called the Pines.

"I just think that this is a moment in time to step up to the mark," Vogel said, "and Goodwill's come and made an ask that's going to help get 27 people who are chronically homeless, most of whom will be in the Pines — if they aren't there already — into housing.

"I mean, that's real, that's as real as it gets, and that's incredible."

Goodwill Northern Michigan already secured Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the state in April, and a tax break from the city in November, as reported in the Record-Eagle.

Both of these combine to help underwrite the nonprofit's plans to turn up to 63 of East Bay Flats' apartments into homes for people facing chronic homelessness, who have a documented disability or who are fleeing domestic violence.

But the state housing agency won't award those tax credits until June 2025, Vogel said. So the service agreement between city and nonprofit could fund and start the program even sooner.

Dan Buron, Goodwill Northern Michigan's executive director, said the first 27 will be people facing an acute need for housing. That means they've been unhoused for a year or more, are the most likely to die if they remain so and have a disability. East Bay Flats can move in 17 by August, then 10 more by January. That's as current residents move out, and in keeping with the pace at which the nonprofit can work.

The remaining 36 units would be for people facing homelessness, but not necessarily chronic, Buron said.

Services will include housing-based case management at East Bay Flats, Vogel said. Residents there could also access services for mental health, substance abuse or employment assistance for as long as they need it.

"The goal through HBCM is to make sure that the people who are moved in, that they successfully retain their housing and they have opportunities for personal growth and development," Vogel said.

Goodwill Northern Michigan needs to swap its current loan for the apartment building to a permanent one, meaning it'll last for the 30-year life of the tax credits, Buron said.

IFF, a community development financial institution formerly named Illinois Facilities Fund, is interested in providing one, and both Rotary Charities of Traverse City and the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation kicked in $1 million each to IFF.

These donations will help support low-cost financing for affordable housing in and around Traverse City, said Dave Mengebier, president of the community foundation. And that goes beyond East Bay Flats.

Partnerships between government, private and philanthropic sectors are the sort of cooperation needed to tackle homelessness, Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness Director Ashley Halladay-Schmandt said.

"It's going to take every sector of the community to really get behind this if we want to build enough housing for people who need it, and especially our most vulnerable neighbors," she said.

Separately, the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation helped raise about $50,000 to place two rental portable toilets, two "festival sinks" — like the plastic, foot-powered sinks on East Front Street during its 2020 closure — and two solar benches, Vogel said. Those benches will have one outlet on each end so people can charge their mobile phones.

This comes after community members and organizations working on homelessness issues told city administrators the Pines needs sanitary solutions, Vogel said. Although the eventual goal is to end camping there, in the meantime, the city must acknowledge that people are staying there, she said.

Both sinks and portable toilets should be in place by mid-May, Vogel said. Plans are to place them in a more visible location and have them under surveillance to avoid the previous problems of vandalism and misuse.

Mengebier said the community foundation approached Vogel with the idea for a way to meet some of the basic needs of people staying at the Pines. By approaching other funders like Rotary Charities and the Oleson Foundation, GTRCF was able to put its resources and know-how to use in addressing a big issue the community is facing.

"It's time for the community to collectively think about how are we going to address our homelessness problem here in Traverse City and regionally," he said.

Looking ahead, city commissioners will also consider a draft budget that includes another community police officer and social worker for the city's Quick Response Team, Vogel said. Adding both positions through the 2024-25 budget, which she'll hand off to commissioners Monday for adoption no later than June 3, aim to address homelessness-related issues in the medium- to long term.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct a reporter's error giving an outdated name for the company formerly known as Illinois Facilities Fund. Since 2007, it is IFF. May 3, 2024