Vote on expanded Safe Harbor hours coming
Aug. 14—TRAVERSE CITY — Safe Harbor's ask to add daytime hours on winter weekends requires permission from Traverse City for the otherwise overnight-only emergency homeless shelter.
It's decision time Monday as commissioners will weigh the ask for a minor amendment to the shelter's special land use permit. Some neighbors back the request, including Traverse Area District Library.
The library's main building on Woodmere Avenue became a de facto day shelter during pandemic-related closures of other daytime services for people without shelter, according to TADL Executive Director Michele Howard. She wrote a letter backing the plan that's one part of a larger, public-private partnership.
City commissioner Mitchell Treadwell said he backs the plan, too.
"I understand that there have been concerns from the library and from nearby neighbors and property owners," he said. "Especially for the colder parts of the winter, it is important that unhoused individuals do have a warm and safe place that they can spend time."
Safe Harbor would stay open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends from Oct. 15 to May 15 as a place where people without homes could charge phones, do laundry and shower, as previously reported.
Jubilee House, another nonprofit offering similar services in the day, plans to stay open later in the afternoon.
And Central United Methodist Church will continue offering breakfast, showers and more throughout the winter weeks in its Fellowship Hall.
Traverse City Police will also add a community police officer who will work in the same neighborhood as Safe Harbor, as previously reported. They'll work directly with residents, businesses and shelter guests on solving problems before they rise to the need of law enforcement involvement.
The community officer will also work with a social worker, the first to join the department. Their task will be to connect people who need other services, like finding homes or substance abuse treatment, with partner agencies.
Goodwill of Northwest Michigan is a partner as well and its street outreach worker will work with the community police officer and social worker, city Police Capt. Keith Gillis said.
A spike in incidents at the library and Hull Park prompted the police department and other partners to look for a solution, as previously reported. While most people using the library to keep warm followed library rules, others refused and some became belligerent when staff banned them.
Gillis said being homeless isn't a crime, but problems in the neighborhood called for a new approach. Providing consistent places where people without homes can stay warm all throughout the winter days gives them consistency. It also gives partner agencies a better chance to find them and help them if needed.
Plus, recent case law from the federal Ninth District Court requires governments to offer some kind of alternative for people without homes before police can push them from public lands, city Police Chief Jeff O'Brien recently told city commissioners.
The partnership of which Safe Harbor will play one part isn't a perfect fix, Gillis said. He's been working with Goodwill of Northwest Michigan and Ryan Hannon, now its public outreach coordinator, for 18 years on finding solutions for homeless people in the city and the issues they face.
But it's time for a new approach, Gillis said, and he believes the partnership is a positive step.
"I think it's a change for the good, and I think it's a change to better the neighborhood and the quality of life for the people in that neighborhood, and also the homeless," he said.
Record-Eagle reporter Elizabeth Brewer contributed to this article.
