Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: What would it take to establish an Ypsi homeless shelter?
Shelter Association of Washtenaw County
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. While the Ypsilanti Freighthouse recently announced its new role as a daytime warming center Monday through Thursday, the only 24-seven shelter for unhoused members of the Ypsi community is still the limited beds at the Delonis Center in Ann Arbor. This has led many community members and organizations toward discussing the need for a shelter on the eastern side of Washtenaw County. Today, I'm here with Lindsay Calka, the managing director of Groundcover News, to talk about this ongoing conversation about how our community can help its most vulnerable residents. Hi, Lindsay! Thanks so much for being here!
Lindsay Calka: Hey!

Rylee Barnsdale: So, for those who may not know, Lindsay, Groundcover is a nonprofit street newspaper written and sold by unhoused persons to make the transition from homeless to housed, unemployed to employed. And so, I'm sure that you have heard firsthand the need for a resource like this within the community. Can you tell us a little bit about what those conversations with folks have looked like?
Lindsay Calka: Totally! And not only have we been hearing about it, but we've been reporting about it in Groundcover, whether it just kind of starts out with personal essays or people putting opinion pieces out there to kind of pivoting to doing more dedicated news stories to kind of get this information out there. But, generally, what I hear most directly is just people asking, "Where where should I go?" or, "What are the options for tonight?" And depending on who that person is, if they have a pet or not, if they're a single person or a couple, what their gender is, the answers are always different. And the answers are always not enough or maybe there isn't a place to go. So, I think that, firsthand, is where we begin to understand everyone's individual experience of navigating this and how it's not enough.
Rylee Barnsdale: And I know that getting to the Delonis Center is one issue when you are in Ypsi, but then there are a very limited amount of beds. There's also folks in Ann Arbor that are looking for places to sleep. Where are you sending folks instead? Like, what are the local options for folks here in Ypsi that need a roof over their head in the night?
Lindsay Calka: Yeah. So, it depends on what season it is. And I would say like any campaigns or movement to get 24-seven shelter in Ypsi is one that's looking at the whole year. And often, maybe those movements are undercut during the winter because there are more options. But everyone says like, "Okay, we got four months to figure out where people are going to go?"--when these options close. But right now, we have, during the day, there is a daytime warming center in Ann Arbor and Ypsi. There are also the warming centers that are presented like the mall or the library and things like that, but not necessarily with all of the resources that people might hope or expect at a shelter. And the nighttime in Ypsi, during Monday through Thursday, there is one church that hosts a shelter. And then, Friday through Sunday, another church hosts it, and that is run by the Shelter Association. The catch is if your trespassed from the Delonis Center, a.k.a. the Shelter Association, you can't access those shelters either.

Rylee Barnsdale: And I understand, too. I mean, there's a good deal of other resources for unhoused folks throughout the county, if we're talking about food or clothes, employment opportunities as well. But what would it mean for the Ypsi community to specifically have this resource, a 24-seven shelter folks can access in the winter, in the summer, whenever?
Lindsay Calka: Yeah. One, I would say to have things localized in one place, it actually takes a lot of pressure off of staff and people that are accessing the services. But every year, there's this scramble of, "Okay, where are the shelters is going to be this year?" There has to be this massive communications strategy to get the information out there. Because from this day to this day, for these four days, it's at this location and it's only these hours. And then, when it pivots here, this place can only host for three hours instead of four. And so, it's really complicated and already in a very chaotic and unstable life situation to have this basic resource--shelter, heat, food, maybe Wi-Fi, etc.--to have that constantly in flux and need to figure out where it is when you're paying for bus fare or you're hauling all your things across town. It just adds another level of disruption. So, yeah, to have it in one place like that is just a huge contributor to, one, the consistency of building that up, people feeling welcome, they're having it turn it into a community center. And yeah, I think the social emotional and material benefits are huge.

Rylee Barnsdale: And I know even outside of the work being done at Groundcover, you have been very vocal about this need and also disseminating more of those resources from Ann Arbor to Ypsi as well. What is, from your perspective, keeping the county from moving forward on making this a reality? Is it just the lack of resources?
Lindsay Calka: Not at all!
Rylee Barnsdale: Okay!
Lindsay Calka: In Washtenaw County, we have an abundance of resources. And I think maybe, like, it's two-pronged here. One is we hear a lot that we need coordination from all the municipalities because if it's got to be in Ypsi, Ypsi City needs to approve the zoning, but it may need the funding from the county and they need the money from Ann Arbor and the like--political will. Like, there's all these different things that everyone needs to chip in for because it really will be a service for the whole county and Ypsi, but it'll primarily service folks in Ypsi and Ypsi Township. But that is kind of thinking on the mindset of if we only do this the way that we've always done this, and I think the grassroots organizations and kind of the movement of shelter now was calling for. Like, the pandemic showed the world that things can happen outside of our normal processes. You can mobilize buildings. You can mobilize money, staffing. It can happen if someone sees this as a crisis or an emergency, and it's not to people in power. So, yeah, I understand. I've heard all of the reasons why it's not the way it is, and that makes sense if you are committed to just doing things the normal way, the slow way. But when you are working day-to-day with people, if these folks are your friends, your family, you don't want it to see this as a crisis.

Rylee Barnsdale: Right.
Lindsay Calka: Or as a health emergency, the same way that COVID was. So, we need to mobilize resources for that as well.
Rylee Barnsdale: And I'm curious from the community perspective too. Are there any specific maybe misunderstandings or misconceptions that you have heard in the work that you do, regarding opening a 24-seven homeless shelter or even just about homelessness in general that maybe, were they addressed, could potentially start moving things in that right direction of finding those creative solutions?
Lindsay Calka: Yeah. So, there's so many! The first thing that comes to mind, which I think, is what isn't said very often is just if there's a shelter that's put in, it doesn't mean people are going to stop camping. It doesn't mean people are going to disappear. And it doesn't mean homelessness is going to disappear. It just means that people will have a better access. They will be safer in that situation a little bit more. There's no desire to force people into the shelter because there will always be people that don't choose to live in congregate settings in the same way that there are thousands of people that choose to live on their own in their own single apartments or houses, right? We respect that if you're able to pay for it. But if you can't, somehow you're denied that choice. So, there still will be that thing, and there still will be struggles over private property and public property and people not being able to camp there. Another misconception is that if people advocate for shelter, they're not advocating for housing. You can advocate for public affordable housing for five years. And as soon as you say we need shelter now, people say, "Well, we actually need houses here." We know! We need both! And never, ever is it advocating for this or that. It's both.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Lindsay Calka, managing director for the nonprofit Groundcover News. So, Lindsay, we are talking a lot about advocacy and advocating for this service. And I know that seeing maybe a lack of movement in establishing this this resource might be a little bit discouraging to you and the folks that could really need it. I think an interesting thing to talk about would be then what can community members do to advocate for this resource and for their unhoused neighbors.
Lindsay Calka: One, supporting the projects that exist is great. There is lots of support needed, but I think getting connected to groups that are working on this is helpful. There are already lots of groups that are working on this and sometimes, having all those efforts are splintered. We need diversity of tactics. But we want to be on the same page of what we're working for. And also, voice to the people that you voted in or that, there are so many different power holders in all of these situations. And, really, you can tell anybody about this that might be like putting out a little bit of pressure or vocalizing that. It's not just your county commissioner. It's not just your city council person. It's both and everybody. It's landlords. We want buildings that are sitting empty. We need people eventually to staff or support these sites, so everyone has a part to play. And I think the daytime warming center in Ypsi and Ann Arbor models that really well. And so, that is something that we look to as what this can be. Everyone has a place to contribute. Everyone has something to give.

Rylee Barnsdale: And I would love to wrap up just by asking this hypothetical. If a 24-seven shelter opened up in Ypsi tomorrow, what would that impact look like on the unhoused community here? Just kind of in a nutshell.
Lindsay Calka: Yeah, well....
Rylee Barnsdale: Big question!
Lindsay Calka: It would give people another choice. And that just, I think, is enough that you don't have to go to this one place along with everyone. You can choose to go here. You can choose to go to the Purple House. You can choose the camp. But you aren't being forced into making a life-or-death choice or one where it's like, "I'm going to be in a situation where I feel traumatized or I feel very unsafe or whatever." It's just another choice for people that everyone else has.
Rylee Barnsdale: Thank you so much for being here today, Lindsay! Your work in this field is definitely seen, appreciated and very important. And, hopefully we start seeing the needle move in a more positive direction come the new year, too!
Lindsay Calka: Definitely! Shelter now!

Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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