{"id":328665,"date":"2025-12-03T20:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/328665\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T20:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:40:10","slug":"housing-declared-a-public-health-crisis-by-michigan-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/328665\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing declared a \u2018public health crisis\u2019 by Michigan county"},"content":{"rendered":"

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI \u2014 People without a place to live are a visible sign of a crisis in Kalamazoo, a county official said. <\/p>\n

Kalamazoo County Commissioner Monteze Morales brought forward a proclamation to declare housing as a public health crisis in Kalamazoo County. It passed 8-1 on Tuesday Dec. 2, during a vote of the county Board of Commissioners. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a crisis here and elsewhere, Morales said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come off I-94, you see a trail of people in need,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\"PeopleThe encampment on Monday, Oct. 6, on private property near Cork Street and Sprinkle Road.(Brad Devereaux | bdeverea@mlive.com)<\/p>\n

They\u2019re living in makeshift shelters and in hotels near the highway, trying to find housing as winter approaches. <\/p>\n

The county\u2019s building to provide shelter for families with children, The Landing Place<\/a>, is not currently online, Morales said. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t afford their rent,\u201d Morales said, also noting the high costs of day care, which residents came to speak about at Tuesday\u2019s meeting. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners declares its unwavering commitment to ensuring that every resident has access to stable housing and calls upon all sectors to unite in this shared endeavor to make Housing for All a lasting reality in Kalamazoo County,\u201d the proclamation states, in part. <\/p>\n

Read the proclamation<\/a> on Page 413 of the county agenda packet. <\/p>\n

Morales said she first brought up the issue in 2022, noting a Continuum of Care report on homelessness and other metrics showing an increased need in the county. <\/p>\n

Morales, who works with students at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, said she\u2019s seen it firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have kids who are sleeping in tents who can\u2019t shower regularly who are trying to make it to class,\u201d Morales said. <\/p>\n

Homelessness affects a lot of different areas of life, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt impacts how you move and shake,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

As houseless people are being pushed out of downtown, they can be seen elsewhere in the city, like by I-94, she said. <\/p>\n

\"PeopleA group of people stayed at a makeshift shelter, wondering where they might go next, on Monday, Oct. 6.(Brad Devereaux | bdeverea@mlive.com)<\/p>\n

John Taylor said the proclamation shows the values of the board. <\/p>\n

Chair Jen Strebs said portions of the community have a life expectancy that\u2019s 10 years less than others a mile away. That\u2019s a condition of their environment and housing is a social determinate of health, she said. <\/p>\n

The county\u2019s housing department and health department are being asked to cooperate to make progress on this issue, Strebs said. <\/p>\n

John Gisler was the one commissioner to vote no. <\/p>\n

Gisler said he voted against the resolution because the county has a housing milage that\u2019s being used to address the issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that says it all and we don\u2019t need a resolution,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Morales said she believes this is a hard issue the board needs to tackle. <\/p>\n

Bookmark MLive\u2019s local Kalamazoo news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI \u2014 People without a place to live are a visible sign of a crisis in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-328665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}