PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The Portage city council will revisit a request from Kalamazoo County to collaborate with other local units and contribute $100,000 for emergency shelters for the homeless this winter Tuesday.
Council members delayed their response at their last meeting, wanting proof it would be a good use of their taxpayer dollars.
The recommendation is coming not only from the county, but their own administration.
Acting City Manager Adam Herringa said after careful study, he was comfortable with the request at their last meeting.
“We saw this as doing our part to help support the unhoused, and the Continuum of Care in their efforts, understanding and respecting that this is taxpayers’ dollars,” says Herringa.
Portage City Housing Specialist Anita Johnson, who sits on the Continuum of Care board, says she was happy with last winter’s sheltering program.
“We do not look at where people come from, we just look at the fact that during the cold Winter months, do they need somewhere to go. As we know, homelessness does not just affect one individual, it affects us as a community.”
Mayor Patricia Randall and other council members were not convinced and requested more information.
“We are the elected body that will be accountable to our citizens and we need to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars.”
Herringa notes in a new memo that there are 181 homeless students attending class at Portage Public Schools, and that in the past year, Portage Public Safety officers reported 725 encounters with, and 235 calls for, service involving the unhoused and encampments.
Herringa says they have established programs to assist the homeless, including one that gives them a Metro Transit Token to obtain available services, most of which are located in the city of Kalamazoo.
He says the money is available from their general fund.
The county has sent requests to other townships and communities in the metro area to also contribute and are waiting for responses from a few of them.
Comments