The city of Lansing released a report on homelessness today. The Greater Lansing Area Annual Homeless Report for 2016 indicates that more than 5,100 people experienced homelessness in Ingham County that year. That’s up 3.4-percent from the previous year.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero was at a program in city hall where boxed lunches and flu shots were delivered to those in need. "People talk about the booming stock market," Bernero states, "that's great, but it is the best of times and the worst of times. If you're at the low end of the economic ladder, you are still being shut out."
Bernero says local governments need to do more to get developers to include low-income housing in their plans.
According to the new report, while the number of homeless people was up, the number of chronically homeless in the county was down 8-percent in 2016. On any given night, 471 people in the county were homeless.