As leaders work on shelter fix, housing summit set to address homelessness

A multi-session community housing summit related to helping the homeless is slated for later this month — and comes at a critical time as local organizers work on a new shelter solution before winter hits.

The summit, “From Homeless to Housed: Community-Driven Solutions,” will be held virtually from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

It’s being by hosted by the St. Clair County Community Services Coordinating Body’s housing and support services workgroup and will kick off with a keynote presentation from Matthew Desmond, sociologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.”

Kathy Swantek, who chairs the workgroup, called it a “dynamic summit” geared toward community organizers in the nonprofit and services sector but also hoped business leaders, city and county officials, and other residents and stakeholders would participate.

“The audience should be our entire community,” she said. “Anyone and everyone interested in sustaining a healthy and vibrant community — and I would expect we all want that to happen — should attend this summit.”

According to the CSCB, close to 150 individuals were considered homeless during the last count in January of this year. Of them, 95 were adults and 52 were children with 26 families and 114 individuals not in a shelter but living out in the elements.

Swantek said of the data collected over the last 12 years, it’s remained consistent between 80 to 170 people on any day who may be homeless in the area.

“What’s disturbing to us is close to 30% of those individuals who are homeless are children,” she said, adding the latest average age of affected children was 7. “We’re concerned about everybody, but especially, when you have that many children. … We need to be much more diligent.”

In addition to an address from Desmond, Swantek said other segments will include a presentation to break down local numbers and what they’d like to see moving forward, as well as a video showcasing the local homeless experiences of five people.

She said it’ll end with a local panel, moderated by Mike McCartan, with Melinda Johnson, executive director of the Blue Water Community Action Agency; Jim Dewey, executive director of the Port Huron Housing Commission; Brent Gillette, executive director of the United Way of St. Clair County; and Port Huron City Manager James Freed.

Admission for the summit is $25. Those interested can register online at https://cscbinfo.org/2022-housing-summit.

What about finding a new shelter this winter?

Homelessness is a concern that’s weighed on community organizers for several months after the Blue Water Area Rescue Mission shuttered its men’s shelter on 24^th Street last March, leaving a vacancy in services for men in St. Clair County.

Earlier this year, BWARM’s founders, who cited health concerns at the closure, said they originally planned to re-open by Nov. 1 but have faced difficulties re-establishing the facility with a new director. Then, in October, the community subcommittee formed to address the lack of a shelter last spring formally declined to purchase the shelter building itself.

Now, with that Nov. 1 deadline past, Swantek, also a member of the committee, said they’re still working out long-term solutions for a permanent shelter replacement.

In the meantime, organizers said they’re hoping a network of local churches will help fill the shelter need during the coming colder months.

“We have about, right now, three or four churches (that are) very, very seriously considering,” said Andrew Seppo, director at Operation Transformation.

They’ve also been in contact with several others, he said.

“How this would look and how we’d be able to make this happen — a lot has to go into this,” Seppo said. So far, however, he said they didn’t have “anything concrete” quite yet.

“Thank the lord we’ve had warm weather,” he added when asked about the organizational delay. “So, this next week and a half still looks (to be warmer). … We’re still finalizing some of the financial support for the community and finalizing which spaces are up to date code-wise for fire and spacing.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.