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Unhoused community members in Lansing say temporary housing provided by the city is making a difference, but that progress could be at risk if the temporary shelter ends too soon.
Residents of an encampment in Old Town were placed in the Causeway Bay Hotel after a judge ordered the city to provide temporary housing for the residents before clearing the encampment.
The residents were given six weeks in the hotel at an estimated cost to the city of $40,000. They were given until late December to vacate the encampment, meaning they are about halfway through their time in the hotel.
Ronald Wright says he and other residents staying in the hotel have found employment since moving in, thanks in part to the hotel’s running water allowing the residents to shower and shave.
But he says that progress would be jeopardized if the temporary housing ends after six weeks.
“I have a job. I got my first paycheck today. I am on my way up,” Wright said. “But if I get kicked out of the Causeway Bay Hotel in three weeks, then I lose those abilities, and it could cost me that job again.”
Housing advocate Ivan Droste says the city needs to extend the stay until residents can obtain stable housing.
“We’re staring down the barrel of a serious crisis where, once the hotel stay is up for these folks, they will have quite literally nowhere to go, in the middle of winter, in the freezing cold,” Droste said.
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Housing advocate Selkie said she hopes the hotel stay doesn’t turn out to represent false hope for the unhoused community members.
“Our friends that are members of the homeless union have begun dreaming of what is possible, and it breaks my heart to see that they might have to give up on those dreams and find somewhere else just out on the street again,” she said.
Punks With Lunch Lansing volunteer Michael Gorishek said everyone who was offered to stay in the hotel accepted, proving they want to find housing.
“Every single person said yes. That is not resistance, that is willingness,” Gorishek said. “That is people asking for a chance.”
But he said challenges remain in connecting them with long-term housing, including shelters being at capacity and not accepting some residents.
“I’m struggling to responsibly recommend next steps,” Gorishek said. “I cannot tell people that housing is coming when I don't believe that it is. I cannot tell them to hope for viable alternatives when the clock is clearly running out.”
