County Administrator Greg Dill Gaslights & Misleads Community With His “Statement on SafeHouse”

Editor’s note: On October 17, 2021, The Ann Arbor Independent published an editorial in which we called for the Washtenaw Board of Commissioners to fire Greg Dill for his role in putting domestic violence victims and their children in danger, for making women and children homeless, and for his long-time lack of oversight resulting in the unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the County’s Domestic Violence Shelter, SafeHouse, a building owned and maintained by the County. On January 7, after a meeting of the SafeHouse Board of Directors, Dill issued a statement by email to Ann Arbor Mayor Chris Taylor, Ann Arbor City Council, the Washtenaw County Commissioners and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, among others. In his statement, Dill seeks to distance himself from the debacle and absolve himself of responsibility. The President of The ENOUGH Initiative penned this refutation to Dill’s statement.

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My name is Nicole Beverly and I am a Clinical Social Worker and Survivor of Domestic Violence and Stalking. I reside in Washtenaw County, and am the founder and President of a small, boots on the ground, domestic violence prevention and advocacy non-profit organization, The ENOUGH Initiative. Because of my history of abuse, and the many obstacles that I encountered along my journey from victim to survivor, I am passionate about helping other victims who are on the very challenging journey of escaping abuse, navigating the legal system, and the system of organizations designated to help victims overcome the emotional trauma of abuse. I was very fortunate to have Arianne Slay as the prosecutor for several of the cases against my ex-husband, and I can attest to the fact that she is a true advocate for victims in our county. 

I was forwarded an email that Mr. Greg Dill had sent out as an update on SafeHouse Center. After reading it, I felt compelled to respond. The community, especially domestic violence and sexual assault survivors and advocates in our county, have waited five months for an update from the SafeHouse Center Board of Directors regarding plans to return to providing shelter and in-shelter services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in our County. SafeHouse Center is not providing services at the level for which non-profit continues to receive funding. To read Dill’s statement, and to realize that a resolution has still not been reached, was both shocking and concerning. 

The initial concerns about poor building conditions and racial discrimination were actually first brought to the publics attention in February of 2021 in an article written by Patricia Lesko and published in The Ann Arbor Independent that included pictures of shelter conditions and testimony from both victims and former employees. Mr. Dill is the Vice President of the SafeHouse Board of Directors, as well as the County Administrator.

The SafeHouse Executive Director has been on paid leave since October 6, 2021, while victims and their children in our County continue to be turned away from safe shelter at SafeHouse. SafeHouse has an operating budget of over $3 million, but has been operating at 1/5 to 1/4 of its 52-bed shelter capacity for at least the past six months. For months, we have been told by the SafeHouse Board of Directors, “Give us time.” Meanwhile, victims of domestic violence and sexual assault (and their children) in our County are running out of time. 

This is a Financial Trends Analysis for Domestic Violence Project (SafeHouse Center), Inc., EIN: 38-2121751.

Below, I have bolded parts of Mr. Dill’s letter that I either have questions about, or to which I would like to respond. My questions and responses help clarify some of Dill’s statements and identify his statements that may be confusing or outright misleading. 

County Administrator Dill’s January 7, 2022 Update about SafeHouse Center:

In 1992, the [Washtenaw] Board of Commissioners approved a ballot proposal for a two-year millage of 0.25 mills which would be used to acquire or construct, furnish and equip the building to be used to shelter survivors of domestic violence. At the time, Washtenaw County was the first governmental entity in Michigan, and one of the first in the U.S., to publicly pay for the construction of a domestic violence shelter. Since 1994, Washtenaw County has worked in partnership with SafeHouse to provide emergency shelter and support services to the survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Our existing partnership includes annual financial allocations to support the operation of SafeHouse. For 2021-22, that allocation amounts to $250,000. Our contractual obligation does not allow for programmatic or operational oversight of the facility, rather, the County maintains the infrastructure while Safehouse provides the day-to-day operations of the shelter, domestic violence programming and wrap-around services for survivors. There are currently several, on-going maintenance projects on the building. Some of these projects include measures to ensure the absolute safety of survivors. While we do not have oversight for the day-to-day operations of Safehouse, the Board of Commissioners does receive regular, service updates from the interim director. 

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Nicole Beverly: If the County is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure of the SafeHouse Building and allocates $250,000 to SafeHouse how did the building conditions become so dilapidated, dirty and in some cases unsanitary? Why were cameras that victims believed were working and serving to help protect them from their abusers were not even functioning let alone recording? The most recent estimate shared publicly was that there was approximately $330,000 worth of repairs that needed to be completed inside of the SafeHouse building.

Pictures from the inside of SafeHouse Center taken by shelter residents and staff between February and September 2021:

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In September of 2021, the County was notified that there were survivors in need of temporary housing due to domestic violence and/or sexual assault and who reported that they failed to receive adequate services from SafeHouse. Due to the seriousness of the reports and the urgency of need, the County immediately provided sheltering and non-sheltering support for survivors. On October 6, 2021, the Board of Commissioners allocated $75,000 in direct, emergency funding to support these efforts. Support included emergency housing, gas assistance, medical expenses, car repairs, utility payments, food assistance and other services for all the survivors who reached out to us with a need.  

Our aim was and remains to help survivors re-establish themselves, safely, away from their abusers. While the County could provide temporary hotel housing and monetary assistance, we realized quickly that their needs were greater. They also needed critical wrap around services, long-term support, transitional housing and a permanent housing solution.  All survivors go through the SafeHouse intake process and if a survivor is eligible for services, but SafeHouse is unable to provide temporary housing or other resources, the County will step in to help to fill the gap. The County is still actively providing resources to survivors. 

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Nicole Beverly: This is simply not true. Not all survivors go through the SafeHouse intake process; many have been told to directly call HAWC, the Delonis Center or the Salvation Army rather than to call SafeHouse. Domestic and sexual violence advocates in our county know that SafeHouse has not been providing shelter to victims for several months.

When victims do call SafeHouse they are not given Greg Dill’s phone number nor any County Commissioner’s phone number for help. I know this for a fact as I have sat with several victims when they have called for shelter, or they have directly called me after contacting SafeHouse desperate for help. Depending on the day the call to SafeHouse is made, most victims, organizations and police officers that have been told that the shelter is full, or does not have enough staff, or that new staff is being trained and they are not taking new shelter clients.

Victims are then told to call other domestic violence shelters to see if there are openings or in some cases simply that the shelter is full. Several victims have been referred to Catholic Social Services (CSS) by SafeHouse. CSS does not even offer shelter services. Over the past five months, my organization, Catholic Social Services, private individuals and even Police Officers have pooled funding to provide shelter and necessities to keep multiple victims in our county safe—while SafeHouse continues to operate at 1/5 of it’s capacity. 

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In response to the DV calls, the County temporarily housed survivors over a period of 8 weeks in area hotels. This accommodation was intended to bridge the gap between available shelter and a more permanent housing solution. The sheltered individuals were encouraged to work with the housing and sheltering agencies. We have worked in partnership with other county departments and community agencies to ensure that survivors have access to transitional housing and any additional resources needed.  All those who did reach out to us have been connected to crisis and support services with partner agencies. Several county departments and partnering organizations remain engaged in providing non-residential services and case management to all survivors upon request.

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Nicole Beverly: Our county has experienced an increase in homelessness of 35% from November 2020 to November 2021, a 50% increase in homelessness for individuals and a 9% decrease in permanent housing obtained. Average length of time to find housing for an individual or family is 93-289 days. Homeless families are 88% female. If you have not reviewed this report it is very eye opening even if data specifically related to domestic violence and sexual assault is not noted. (OCED Report attached) All of our local shelters aside from SafeHouse are at capacity. Domestic Violence is known to be the leading cause of homelessness of women and children in our country. This is backed by data and research. (Article attached) Because local  shelters found themselves turning so many victims of domestic violence away I was contacted by Barrier Busters and OCED to present to the staff of Delonis Center, Salvation Army and Barrier Busters on best practice when handling domestic violence related calls, safety planning for victims forced to stay with their abusers due to lack of shelter and lethality assessments (likelihood of homicide by partner) to determine those most in need of being connected to expedited section 8 housing lists. I encourage all of you to call and speak to any of the agencies about the dire need for shelter for victims and their children in our county as they are dealing with the trauma of telling victims daily that there is no place for them to go for safe shelter in our county. 

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I assure you that my office has no knowledge of 40 women or children in need of assistance as a result of the issues currently facing SafeHouse. My staff has received approximately 25 calls from residents requesting shelter at hotels, which my staff triaged. However, many of these calls were not a request for “emergency” housing due to domestic violence, but a call to shelter due to “homelessness”. The County assisted these callers by connecting them to services and resources available through partnering agencies. The Delonis Center is the County’s designated agency to provide a transitional housing solution, complete with transitional shelter and additional housing. 

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Nicole Beverly: Both the Delonis Shelter and Salvation Army have legitimately been at capacity for the past several months as has basically every shelter within 80 miles of us due to the increase in Domestic Violence related to both Covid and the holiday season. As Mr. Dill should be aware Delonis has not even been taking new admissions for several weeks out of the past two months due to Covid outbreaks. More importantly it would make sense that he would not be aware of the number of homeless victims or those forced to stay with their abusers because according to Delonis Center, Salvation Army, HAWC and Barrier Busters staff none of these agencies has been instructed to contact Mr. Dill or the commissioners when a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault calls for assistance and shelter is not available.

Instead they are filling out paperwork for section 8 housing and being put on waitlists and must choose to remain either homeless or in abusive situations until they are accepted which can take months. Mr. Dill may state that he is not aware of 40 victims that are currently homeless or residing with their abusers but as a board member of SafeHouse who directly reports on their website that between October 3rd and November 3rd, 2021 they received 463 calls to their emergency helpline (a large percentage requesting shelter) and received 307 emergency requests while only housing between 6 and 11 individuals per month.

These numbers alone tell us that well over 40 victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are either staying with their abusers or have become homeless as a result of safe shelter not being available. In fact based on these numbers alone it is likely that well over 100 victims a month are very likely forced to make the decision to either remain with their abusers or become homeless. If there is any question as to whether or not victims are currently or previously were living in vehicles the answer is absolutely yes. I have personally provided warming blankets and solar charges to victims in this situation as has Catholic Social Services Staff who has reached out to my organization for assistance. 

Personally, I have referred 13 individuals to Mr. Dill, 10 of whom were homeless directly due to domestic violence or sexual assault. Mr. Dill did not communicate with me the outcomes of these referrals, but I do know from the victims that five of them were provided several weeks of shelter at hotels at the county’s expense. They were connected after several weeks with case managers, applied and were accepted for section 8 housing, but had not yet successfully found apartments or houses. According to every staff person whom I have spoken to at HAWC, The Delonis Center, Salvation Army and Barrier Busters, it is quite difficult to find low-income housing in our county at this time. (Most apartments require you to have 2-3x the income of rent payment and good credit, two things most victims of domestic violence do not have. According to a recent report by the Washtenaw Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED), the average length of time to find housing is 90-200 plus days). On November 4, 2021, three of these victims were told by Mr. Dill’s staff that Wahtenaw County would no longer house them. Two of the victims were made homeless again and on December 4th, two more of these individuals (both with pending move-in dates for apartments) were told that the County would no longer house them. One of the women was made homeless, again. (Fortunately SOS found temporary housing for the other family before they became homeless.) 

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Since September, the County has continued to explore all options for ensuring that survivors of domestic abuse have access to the support they need. We are using all tools available to us to make this happen, including our contractual relationship, while understanding that SafeHouse is an entity independent of the County.

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Nicole Beverly: While SafeHouse is an entity independent of the County, it receives County funds. As the County’s contract with SafeHouse expired in December 2021, will the County officials be looking at different ways of ensuring that funding designated for specific services actually results in those services being provided? It is important to note that private citizens in our County also donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to SafeHouse to provide the services advertised on the shelter’s website. What the donors don’t know is that many of those services are not being provided, and have not been provided over (at least) the past five-six months. 

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My office remains committed to facilitating support for any domestic violence or sexual assault survivor in our county who is in immediate danger.

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Nicole Beverly: Does this mean that SafeHouse, The Delonis Center, Salvation Army and HAWC should now be referring every victim of domestic violence and sexual assault seeking safe shelter that they are unable to shelter to Mr. Dill? This is currently not happening. Clarity on this would greatly help agencies best serve victims in our community.