ABOUT GUESTS:
Scott Ellis
Scott Ellis has been the Director of Mission Advancement at Avalon Housing for approximately three years.
In his role, Scott oversees various ways the broader community can come alongside and support Avalon in its mission through volunteerism, advocacy, and private philanthropy to help people exit homelessness and stay housed.
He helps guide Avalon's efforts at the local, state, and federal level to advocate for policies and budgets that improve the lives of people in need of supportive affordable housing.
Prior to joining Avalon, Scott was the Director of Development at a local youth crisis center, Ozone House, and before that worked with refugees and asylum seekers in Washington State.
Molly Smith
Molly Smith, LMCSW, serves as the Director of Services for Avalon Housing, a supportive housing provider located in Washtenaw County, MI.
In this role she provides clinical support and oversight to various teams and programs in the Services Department, while working as a liaison with community partners and property management. She has served in this role since 2016.
Molly started out in direct care and became passionate about community inclusion and community based treatment, leading her into the field of supportive housing.
She has extensive case management and leadership experience working with homeless high utilizers of health systems and behaviorally complex populations including adults with TBIs and co-occurring MI and SUDs.
She is a licensed clinical social worker, and received her Master's degree from Eastern Michigan University with a concentration in mental health/chemical dependency.
RESOURCES:
TRANSCRIPTION:
Decky Alexander: This is 89.1 WEMU, and welcome to our weekly conversation on equity and opportunity in our county and in our community. I'm your host, Decky Alexander, and I'm honored still and always to welcome you to this week's edition of Washtenaw United. This is a tale of two counties with one part more housing secure than ever and another part that is one emergency away from displacement and homelessness. Today, we're going to talk with two changemakers, co-directors Scott Ellis and Molly Smith from Avalon Housing, one of the most well-known non-profits in Washtenaw County, and whose mission is to build healthy, safe, and inclusive supportive housing communities as a long-term solution to homelessness. Welcome, Scott and Molly, to Washtenaw United live and in 3D!
Scott Ellis: It's great to be here! Thanks for having us!
Molly Smith: Thanks for having us!
Decky Alexander: Well, thank you. Thank you for coming. So, those who lead our nonprofits in this county are some of our most notable people. They are our trailblazers. So, can each of you share how you trailblaze to Washtenaw County and to Avalon. Molly, you want to go?
Molly Smith: Sure. Molly Smith. I have had a long journey at Avalon. I've been working here for close to 13 years. I am an EMU alumni, background in psychology, mental health. And substance use is a passion, always has been. I did a lot of work in direct care, worked at a facility for adults with traumatic brain injuries and just really got into understanding inclusivity and how do people, especially people who are under-resourced and don't have the supports and the networks that most of us have, how do they thrive and survive after catastrophe or an event? And so, that just naturally set me on a course of wanting to do more community-based care. I worked with Catholic Social Services for a period of time and then transitioned to Avalon, doing case management and just really focused around folks with really high needs, folks who had long histories of homelessness, trauma, intense mental health and substance use where there was just a level of care needed that, if they didn't have that housing or not, it wasn't going to make the difference. And my career has sort of evolved throughout Avalon. I started in case management direct care, worked my way through leadership. I'm currently the director of services and interim executive director with Scott.
Decky Alexander: All right! Well, thank you, Molly! And just a shout out to EMU, because that is also where you began your journey.
Molly Smith: Yeah.
Decky Alexander: Scott, tell us how you trailblazed here to Washtenaw County and to Avalon.
Scott Ellis: Yeah, thanks, Decky! I started in nonprofits doing case management in Washington state with folks who were coming as refugees and asylum seekers and worked with them to navigate a new life into housing and healthcare and schools and employment. And at the end of my time with all of my clients, I was always worried most about if they would keep their housing. And then, I became a volunteer coordinator because there wasn't enough of me to go around for my own clients. And then, there wasn't enough funding for the program, so I became a fundraiser. And then, when I moved here about seven years ago now, I landed with Ozone House, which is our youth shelter and youth crisis center here. And then, about three years ago, I landed with Avalon Housing. And my sort of day job normally, I am our director of mission advancement, so working with all of the ways that the broader community can come alongside Avalon Housing with volunteers and philanthropy and advocacy at the local, state, and federal level. And then, along with Molly, I'm the co-interim executive director as well.
Decky Alexander: Well, both of you are what I call "ground gamers." You really understand the people you serve. So, we'll talk a little bit about some of the work that Avalon does. So, I know, and some people know, that you operate a housing-first model, and that's treating housing, and I think you alluded to this, Scott, as a basic human right, developing permanently affordable housing, coupled with on-site wraparound supportive services for individuals and families that, Molly noted, exist: chronic homelessness or managing severe health vulnerabilities. What does the housing first model look like from a human person angle, but the person who's being kind of wrapped around, so to speak?
Molly Smith: You know, housing first just means that we recognize that foundation of support and safety that people need to just feel secure in their ability to work through goals, needs, barriers in any other domain that is not conditional on engaging in treatment, going through substance use treatment, or having a certain level of income or employment. We recognize that people needs a place to live, a safe place to live, so that's where we start. Through that, our services really focus on just building rapport and trust. We are serving a population of folks who have just endured overburdened systems, many of which are created to sort of keep them out of housing and keep them out of opportunity. And so, we actively work to increase that access and just really support people to connect with community, with resources that they need. And then, slowly work toward who are they? What are they looking for in life? What is their purpose? And that can be a very long journey. That's why the permanent supportive housing piece is the important part is that we're in it for the long haul. For some people, it is short-term stabilization, support needed, maybe some financial assistance with rent, but housing affordability is a real issue. And for many, that is a permanent issue. And so, we're here for what people need, and we see great success.
Decky Alexander: You are listening to Washtenaw United on 89.1 WEMU. I'm Decky Alexander. And today, we are having a conversation with co-directors Scott Ellis and Molly Smith of Avalon Housing on ensuring that there is more permanent housing and hope for those who live in Washtenaw County. Scott and Molly, there is a big national debate right now driven by folks like journalist Ezra Klein arguing that our housing crisis is in abundance. And we just need to get out of the way and let developers build, nonprofits build. But looking at the ALICE reports, we know a massive portion of our local workforce is already priced out of housing market. How does an organization like Avalon bridge the gap? Can we actually build enough homes to fix this without leaving low-income neighbors out in the cold, literally?
Scott Ellis: Yeah. Just in Washtenaw County alone, homelessness has increased since 2022 by 118%. And this is primarily driven because homelessness starts with the lack of homes that are affordable for where people want and need to live. And this a national issue, obviously, and it's been growing for decades. Back in the 70s, at one point, we had a surplus of affordable homes in America, a couple 100,000. We're millions of units behind where we need to be at the affordable level. And so, for Avalon, we're trying to get to the root of the cause by building affordable housing, not just providing the services, but also creating new units. And this year marks the first time that we've crossed over creating 500 affordable homes in our community. So, it's an impressive milestone that Avalon's really proud of happening this year.
Decky Alexander: Can you talk a little about some of that new housing and where it's located and when it's happening?
Scott Ellis: Yeah. In a few days, we are about to cut the ribbon at 206 North Washington in Ypsilanti, which was formerly a burned-out building that we worked with the city to secure and then build. And it's going to house 22 individuals with permanent housing, so we're really excited about that coming online. And then, a few months ago, folks started moving into Dunbar Tower in Kerrytown, which is a co-development between Avalon and the City of Ann Arbor's Housing Commission. It's got 63 homes inside that building. And we're going to have a public sort of open house ribbon cutting on Sunday, October 11th at 4:30 PM in the afternoon. So, folks can come on by and check it out and see what it's all about on the inside there. And there's a public kind of art creative space on the ground floor that's going to be activated then as well.
Decky Alexander: I just want to say something about the Washington space. That's where I used to rescue a lot of stray cats. And I do hope that in whatever incarnation is there right now that whoever is there continues to save and rescue a lots of stray cats because there's a plethora of them. So, just note that, please, as part of the opening, please. So, I wanted to ask both of you. Is there kind of a bottleneck or is there a bottleneck for moving people from kind of this triage? We had interviews with Shelter Association and SOS. It feels like this is the summer of housing or actually limited or tent city housing. And so, there's been a lot on the crisis. So, what is that bottleneck when we're talking about moving people from these triage and self-shelter associations and this emergency in SOS into more true stability? What does that look like?
Scott Ellis: Yeah, I think our ecosystem of care works well when all of the different sort of pillars are growing at the same time. So, Avalon's on the permanent housing side of it, but we need more support at all aspects. So, that's shelter. That's outreach. That's prevention for trying to get folks not to fall into homelessness in the first place. And these days, when all those sectors are being hit by pretty severe federal cuts or potential federal cuts, we're just treading water and trying to maintain and relying on the local community and local support to keep going when the biggest player of the federal government is pulling away from resources.
Decky Alexander: Is there a movement for those entities that are really focused on crisis and those really focus on permanency, working collectively together? Is there something going on here in the county that you can address?
Molly Smith: I mean, we're fortunate that our continuum of care, which is made up of county, nonprofit providers and other community members who are supporting our coordinated entry system where we're really focused on getting people from street homelessness into housing, permanent housing, or sort of shorter-term, rapid rehousing. But that we are working collectively and holistically around the system of care and really understanding the needs of who we're serving and the communities that we're trying to house them in. Affordability, again, is an issue, even finding housing, looking for housing for families that need larger bedroom units, they're very challenging to find. And then, people are struggling income-wise, so the cost of living rent increases just continue. Even for us as a nonprofit provider who are providing affordable housing, it's not affordable. People are one bad crisis away from losing that housing. So, that is definitely a bottleneck in preventing people from finding that stability.
Decky Alexander: And if the federal government doesn't necessarily return to kind of an investment in housing, which a lot of people see as the most basic of needs, all the other needs we say can be met if you have shelter or at least attempt to be met. So, is there a replacement? Is there something> I mean, does the community have to ramp up tenfold? What does that look like if we don't get the government back on this page in space with us?
Scott Ellis: Yeah. About a year ago, we saw the federal government attempt to pull back about 70% of its funding for permanent housing. And at that time, Avalon and our coalition of other housing providers went to the county's Board of Commissioners, and the county Board of Commissioners stepped up and said, "We will cover the gap as it kind of appears over the next season." And they did for a period of time. And then, unfortunately, a lawsuit struck down the federal government's pullback basically. And so, the funding did restart from the feds. But if we're saying that we want private philanthropy or something else to cover this, that's trying to say we're trying to solve all the world's problems with one percent of the GDP. And that's just not sustainable.
Decky Alexander: So, is there a story that you believe encapsulates the essence of Avalon? Maybe it's a staffing story or a story of a resident or a collaboration that really allows us to better understand the breadth and depth of Avalon's work.
Scott Ellis: Sure. We work with folks in a way that's, for many of them, it's their last home, because this is permanent housing. So, people age in place with us, and, ultimately, that means many of them, they're with us when they pass away. And so, in some of our communities, those folks are creating found family along the way. And I went to a memorial service for a gentleman who had passed away, and the memorial service was led by his neighbors and friends. And there, I met some of his adult children who were able to reconnect with him because he had found stability at Avalon. So, they were back in his life, and he was back in theirs because he was in a safe home.
Decky Alexander: Live and in the studio are Scott Ellis and Molly Smith, sharing their wonder of their work with Avalon Housing, a Washtenaw County oasis for those seeking and needing and deserving a permanent house and home. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and you can hear it right here every Monday. I'm Decky Alexander, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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