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Audience members at Wednesday's forum on homelessness were asked to stand if they had never experienced homelessness.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

Dozens of homeless people who have been staying at the Delonis Center in Ann Arbor this winter will be sent back out on the streets on April 6 when the shelter shuts down its seasonal overnight warming center and rotating church shelter program.

This happens every year as winter turns into spring, but this year there's a grassroots coalition including a delegation from the Delonis Center protesting the seasonal end of winter shelter programs in the community.

Concerns were aired at a community forum Wednesday night at the downtown library, where the homeless and other advocates spoke out.

Elizabeth "Lit" Kurtz, who is homeless and has been sleeping at the Delonis Center's overnight warming center each night this winter, speaks at Wednesday's forum, saying she doesn't want to have to go back out on the street on April 6.

"The fact that the warming center is closing April 6 poses a tremendous problem to 90-some people who have been accustomed to coming in at night and at least having a roof over their heads," said Elizabeth "Lit" Kurtz, who has been homeless since last year and has been staying at the Delonis Center this winter.

"Our feeling is that the elements is no place for anyone to live at any point during the year," she said. "It's inhumane to have to sleep outdoors on the cement, hoping that no one will come and attack you. It's very inhumane."

Members of the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit organization MISSION, which stands for Michigan Itinerant Shelter System-Interdependent Out of Necessity, handed out fliers at the forum, asking for help organizing material support — including tents, tarps and sleeping bags — for those being turned away by the shelter.

"I just think we have a need to help each other and find places for these people to go," said Jimmy Hill, vice president of MISSION.

Hill is asking anyone interested in helping MISSION to call him at 734-680-0276 or email him at jehill49@gmail.com.

'I'm sorry that it can't go on'

Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, which runs the Delonis Center, was among the panelists at the forum.

The Delonis Center as it looked on Thursday afternoon.

She said Washtenaw County, like other communities across the country, doesn't have the resources it needs to take care of every person who is homeless, but she said every agency working on the problem is doing everything it can.

"I'm sorry that it can't go on as a year-round thing," she said of the overnight warming center, explaining there isn't funding for it to operate year-round and the shelter wasn't built to handle that many people.

Schulmeister said the overnight warming center, which opens its doors at 9 p.m. every night from mid-November through the end of March or early April each year, welcomed 80-plus people every night this winter, and a high of 96 people at one time. That's in addition to the shelter's regular 75 beds through its residential program.

There are another 25 people who sleep overnight at various churches through the winter as part of the Delonis Center's rotating shelter program.

Kurtz, who said she was a teacher in Detroit before she lost her job as part of a mass layoff and later became homeless, is circulating a petition and organizing a protest from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, which will include members of the homeless community and advocates carrying signs and marching in front of the county building and the Delonis Center in hopes of keeping the warming center open.

Kurtz noted that even when the winter shelter programs are in effect, the homeless still have to fend for themselves during the day since there is no day shelter in Ann Arbor, except for the 75 people in the Delonis Center's residential program.

Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, which runs the Delonis Center, speaks at Wednesday's forum. Next to her is Tenetia Pulliam of Housing Access of Washtenaw County.

The Delonis Center does open its doors to others who want to come in off the street — both day and night — during extreme weather, including when it's 10 degrees or colder outside.

"Unfortunately the shelter's regular beds, the 75 beds that we have, are full a lot of the time," Schulmeister said. "And whenever somebody leaves, there's somebody there waiting on our list to come in and we have an awful lot of vulnerable people. We try to take care of the vulnerable people first as much as we can."

'Those conditions are hard'

Ray Gholston, who is from the Detroit area and said he's new to homelessness, said he has relied on the Delonis Center overnight warming center this winter. In an interview with The Ann Arbor News, he described his experience.

"Basically they throw mats down on the floor of the lunch room, and you can sleep there, and they cram as many people as they can up in that lunch room and let you sleep there," he said. "And then at 7 a.m. they kick you out on the street where it's very cold, and they've been doing that all winter. Those conditions are hard."

Gholston wrote a letter to the Delonis Center's management this week, calling the closing of the warming center disappointing and disturbing.

"Winter is barely over and there are still subzero temperatures outside and it could easily go back that way," he said. "To put people back out on the street is absurd, it's disturbing. There should be a place all year-round for somebody to go."

Caleb Poirier, a local advocate for the homeless and board member for MISSION, asks a question at Wednesday's forum.

Gholston, who said he has a minimum-wage job right now but can't afford rent in Ann Arbor, is hoping local leaders will find a way to keep the warming center open at least another month or two, but he thinks they need to do more.

"We need a brand-new, bigger shelter, big enough to house all the people who are homeless," he said. "And there needs to be a day shelter so people don't have to loiter and trespass on the streets throughout the day."

Mayor John Hieftje, who attended Wednesday's forum, said the city won't be able to prevent the Delonis Center from ending its winter shelter programs for the season on April 6, but he said community leaders are talking about the broader problem.

"I think everything has been heightened this year because of the terrible winter we had, but our community continues to be the one in the state that puts more resources into these issues than any other, and we work with our partner, the county," he said.

"We're certainly not going to have anything done by April 6, but we're having a conversation about the whole issue," he said.

Hieftje and City Administrator Steve Powers have a meeting next week with County Administrator Verna McDaniel and County Board Chairman Yousef Rabhi, as well as others working on the issue, to continue the conversation.

'It's just not possible'

As for the suggestion by some that the city should turn over the keys to an old maintenance building at 721 N. Main St., Hieftje said the city can't take a building that isn't up to code and let people use it as a warming center or day shelter.

"The liability there is just tremendous," he said. "We wouldn't put people into a building like that. It's just not possible."

And as for the idea of establishing a tent city on a 3.5-acre property MISSION owns at 3501 Stone School Road, Hieftje said that's not going to work, either.

Greg Pratt of MISSION speaks at Wednesday's forum. He said it might be illegal for homeless people to camp outside in the city, but they don't have many other options when local shelters are full.

He said every place in the city has neighbors that the city needs to respect, and people shouldn't be in tents with propane heaters in the winter anyway.

"It's just not a good formula at all," he said. "It's very dangerous. But I think some of us on council have an open mind about talking about something very innovative that might work. And there are some very creative ideas, if you take a look around the planet, for working out some small housing units that are more affordable than maybe a permanent bricks-and-mortar property – maybe it's semi-permanent, but it's not a tent, and it's something that can stand up to the weather."

The idea of "tiny houses" was discussed at Wednesday's forum. MISSION leaders say they'd be interested in doing something like that on their property.

'A broad community problem'

Greg Pratt of MISSION said his group knows there are gaps in the community's safety net and it will continue working with people living in tents and on the streets.

"The piece where we feel like we can fit into the continuum of care as an organization is helping people make it through that stage where they don't have any place to go and the shelters are full at night," he said, noting they focus on building community.

"And often that means we're going out to camp sites and providing material support. We've also helped folks organize into camp communities."

Carole McCabe, executive director of local nonprofit Avalon Housing, speaks at Wednesday's forum.

Carole McCabe, executive director of Avalon Housing, said her agency will continue to try to expand the supply of affordable and supportive housing in Ann Arbor, but she said the community also needs more low-income housing vouchers.

"Those kind of rent subsidies are critical," she said. "These are federal programs that have been continually slashed over the years and it has led to this situation.

"We don't believe that everything is working very well," she added, acknowledging there are unmet needs and service gaps. "We don't accept this situation, either, but it's largely a question of resources, and it is a broad community problem for us to tackle together. "

Tenetia Pulliam of Housing Access for Washtenaw County, the single point of entry for all local shelters, said she knows firsthand that Washtenaw County is ahead of Wayne and Kent counties when it comes to addressing homelessness.

"That's super scary that we're in this position and we're ahead of other counties," she said. "We fight every day for funding."

Any resident in Washtenaw County experiencing a housing emergency can call the Housing Access line at 734-961-1999 Monday through Friday.

Nicole Adelman, executive director of the Interfaith Hospitality Network at Alpha House on Jackson Road, also spoke at Wednesday's forum. Her agency, founded in 1992, specializes in providing shelter to families with children.

After nine years of IHN operating as a rotating shelter program, St. Joseph Mercy Health System in 2001 donated the house the agency now uses to shelter between 40 and 50 families each year, with capacity for six families at a time.

Nicole Adelman, executive director of the Interfaith Hospitality Network at Alpha House on Jackson Road, says her agency can shelter six families at a time.

Adelman said the average family stays for about 56 days, and the maximum length of stay is 90 days, and the shelter is full year-round.

"Sometimes we tend to focus on homelessness in the winter when we worry about people dying in the cold, but people are homeless and are dying on the street from different things all year-round, and shelters are full all year-round," she said.

Adelman said the agency's volunteer base includes about 40 or more local congregations that rotate through Alpha House.

"So, about a week at a time, the congregations come in and they provide all the food, all the meals, all the supplies for the week," she said.

Adelman and Schulmeister both said their shelters have a "housing first" philosophy and are trying to move people into permanent housing as quickly as possible. The challenge is finding stable jobs, affordable housing and reliable transportation.

"When someone becomes homeless, it's a hard trek to get housed and to get income again and to get back together again," Schulmeister said. "And the availability of transportation once you start working is a really important issue."

"Alpha House is a mile from a bus stop," Adelman noted. "Could we benefit from having a bus that goes farther down Jackson Road past Wagner? Absolutely."

Schulmeister said the average stay for someone in the Delonis Center's residential program is about 63 days, but for successful clients it's about 100 days. She noted the shelter eliminated its 90-day maximum stay policy a few years ago.

"We recognized it didn't make any sense to throw people out when they reached an artificial time period," she explained. "So the criteria now has to do with — are we working on a plan that's going to be successful? And are we seeing the fruits of the labor? So that's our main purpose in the residential program."

Ryan Stanton covers Ann Arbor city hall for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com or 734-623-2529 or follow him on Twitter.