November is Homeless Awareness Month. We wanted to take this opportunity to dive into issues that surround homelessness in Muskegon, in the hope that our community will grow in its understanding of the complexity of the issue, reaching beyond the narratives of “bad choices” and “lazy attitudes”. Community enCompass is passionate about housing and making sure that all of our neighbors are connected to resources that support them in housing stability. As the largest provider of housing resources in Muskegon County, we partner with national, state, and local organizations to help walk alongside those most vulnerable in our community.

HOMELESS IN MUSKEGON

Hear the word “homeless” and what images come to mind? An older man, dressed in rags, possibly smelling of alcohol, holding a cardboard sign that asks for money, old blankets beneath him? While this image portrays a visible element of homeless in our country, many of us know that homelessness looks quite different.

Neighbor and Housing Resource Specialist

“Prior evictions or criminal history can slow down the process. I have to make sure the neighbor knows if anything arises to complicate their applications I will walk alongside them and make sure it's handled. I love the neighbors I work with, when they are at their worse, they trust me to help them, and that's a huge honor. When someone thinks their gonna die on the streets and you help that neighbor to be self-sufficient and give back to the community, to our neighbors, we did what no one else would do.” - Cherrelle Hughey #CenCHousing

Why Homelessness?

Homelessness, at its core, is a cash flow problem. People become homeless not because they wish too, not because they are lazy, but because they cannot afford to pay for the roof over their head. The struggle is often linked to the rising cost of healthcare, many neighbors who end up without a home in Muskegon were forced to make a decision between paying for their rent or much-needed medical care. Sometimes health issues cost them their job and without reliable income they could no longer afford to pay for housing. Other neighbors end up facing eviction after being hit by an unexpected bill, a big car repair or the loss of a job, again forcing neighbors into a no-win choice between which bill to pay, causing a debt spiral, ending with an eviction and a judgment on their record. According to the United Way’s ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed) Report, due to low wages and high living costs, approximately 40% of the residents of Muskegon county (an even higher 60% of the residents of the City of Muskegon!) have no savings to successfully navigate some of the above situations, leading to a large part of the population at risk of becoming homeless.

At Community enCompass, our HARA (Housing Assessment and Resource Agency) Team work with homeless neighbors to get them connected to resources and affordable housing as quickly as possible. We follow the national best practice approach called “Housing First” that focuses on a neighbors housing situation before any other struggle they may be facing. A neighbor may be struggling with an addiction or health problem, but trying to address these issues without first providing a roof over their head often leads to relapsing or exacerbating their health. When housing is secure, neighbors can work on their employment, health, savings without the stress of finding a safe place to sleep each night, or finding the next meal.

There are a multitude of individual challenges when tackling the issue of homelessness. However, there are some common themes to be aware of as we address this issue within our community.

Community Health Worker

“As our HARA (Housing Assessment and Resource Agency) Team, work hard to get homeless neighbors connected to housing, I help them learn how to access community resources that they can then utilize to address not only their housing challenges, but also their transportation, employment and healthcare challenges too.” - Dan Moran #CenCHousing

THE OPTIONS:

Undesirable Housing.

Cheap housing available to neighbors is predominantly in poorer areas and some houses are unsuitable to be rented out. Often families of 3 or more cram themselves into 1 bedroom apartments within their budget in order to have a roof over their heads.

Stephanie Harmon, a staff member of the Community enCompass team, tells us about her experience with housing before finding employment.

“I've personally experienced this in the home I'm now in with my two children. I was left looking for accommodation after my landlord decided to sell the property that I was living in. I moved into this 2 bedroom house for $450 a month. There were countless holes in the walls, an uncovered electrical box in the basement (that nearly shocked a family member as they installed my dryer), a broken fuse box that had to be replaced, and the electrical wiring in half the house was so bad, the electrician who fixed it said it could have easily triggered a fire.

There was no certificate of occupancy for the property, no water heater or furnace, and although I moved in the summer, I didn't get a replacement until the end of November. In the winter I was forced to move out for a month so my children and I could be warm at night, but we still had to pay rent. There weren't even shelves in the cupboards. There was so much wrong with the house including mice and roaches that I had to take care of on my own.

They initially tried to charge me $500 in rent per month, but after agreeing to do the painting myself, I was able to get it knocked down to $450. I was so desperate to have a place to live, so we didn't have to stay in a shelter that I accepted the situation as normal.”

These are the options available to low-income neighbors. Low rents, for low quality (and often illegally operated) rentals.

Young Adult Housing Resource Specialist

“There are many underlying issues to youth homelessness, each triggering other issues. Many youths are going through homelessness with their parents, and it's a struggle to provide the things needed to continue their education. A homeless child feels so much pressure just to survive, often struggling to focus in school. This leads to suspensions, expulsions and everything seems to go awry. They may have a confrontation with their parents, and the child might say, “I’m done," and leave. They might “couch surf” with different friends. With basic needs not being met, everything is affected: schoolwork, self-esteem, friendships, mental health.” - Charlotte Johnson #CenCHousing

Over-priced housing

Minimum wage is $9.45 per hour or $1,512 per month for those working full-time, which leads to a housing budget of around $450 a month (30% of total income). The average 2-3 bedroom house or apartment for rent in Muskegon County is $700 a month, and in order to qualify many property management companies expect you to be earning three times the amount. So a neighbor has to be earning at least $14.50 an hour working full-time (yearly salary of $30,000) to afford an average 2-3 bedroom place at the cost of $700 a month. On top of that, they have to worry about their food benefits being cut because of their wage increase, thus taking from their housing expense budget because they don't have the help from food stamps anymore. The cost of living does not match the minimum wage that people are expected to live from. Due to the cost of living a large part of Muskegon's homelessness neighbors are not homeless because they are unemployed, they have work, they are homeless because they are underpaid.

Affordable Housing

A 2019 Housing Analysis of Muskegon County noted that affordable housing is not “financially viable” for investors to build, that there are “. . . no market forces creating affordable housing through supply and demand.” This has led to a shortage of housing for working wage families. The Muskegon Housing Analysis reveals that there are renters paying more than the standard 30% of their income on rent throughout Muskegon County, but that “. . . there are many more households with unaffordable rents who have income under $20,000. Nearly half of those with unaffordable rents live in the City of Muskegon.”In short, although affordable housing is desperately needed in Muskegon, it is not worth an investors time.

SOLUTIONS

Community enCompass works with neighbor families to get a head start in potentially saving money, by paying security deposits, offering short-term rental assistance as well as assistance with rental arrearages to prevent evictions. We partner with many other organizations in the community who are doing their part to provide support to homeless or vulnerably housed individuals and families.

At Sacred Suds, we see homeless families and individuals daily. Sacred Suds is about creating a space in the community, for the community---a home away from home. Neighbors come into to take showers or do their laundry at reduced costs ($1 to wash and $1 to dry), share snacks and coffee Mon- Thurs, and lunch on Thursdays. Neighbors also come to use wifi, computers, and printers. And all come to socialize. We spend lots of time in conversation with our neighbors around the laundry table, addressing issues that are both personal and systemic, but always keeping our ear to the ground and listening for ways we can work together with our neighbors to make life in the community better, equitable, more full of hope for all.

There is a lot more that needs to happen, in addition to increased cross-sector solutions. We need to work on societal changes that will address the upstream issues, reducing the causes of people becoming homeless in the first place. Two changes that would create change in the right direction:

1) Establish a state living wage to ensure that full-time employees can afford the cost of housing and put a small amount away in savings which will help prevent future crisis.
2) Create more quality affordable housing and build it strategically so it is available throughout the County, so there are housing options for all budgets.

No matter what happens with policy nationally or even locally, Community enCompass remains dedicated to compassionately walking alongside our neighbors who face housing crises, regardless of the cause. We do this because we love our neighbors. They are our friends and often family (in all meanings of the word). Community enCompass is located in core-city Muskegon, and most of our staff live in the core city. We do life together: We meet neighbors on the street, getting groceries, at church, or at Big Red’s games. We celebrate the holidays with our neighbors, we share in their joy and their sorrow, and they share in ours. To “neighbor with” is to recognize that community is family, and that family embraces everyone in the community--housed and homeless, fed and hungry, young and old, rich and poor. That’s what family does, that's what friends do, that's who good neighbors are.

Want to know more about homelessness and housing in Muskegon? Contact us at info@communityencompass.org.