by Jack Eaton

I REALLY APPRECIATE hearing from many of you about various issues related to homelessness, emergency shelter and affordable housing. I do see a problem in this discussion where some issues are conflated and some opinions conflict.

For example. I see two separate issues in the need that we have to provide a pre-planned response to providing emergency shelter when winter weather threatens life and the separate issue of providing long term shelter for those in need.

For most of this year, Alan Haber and other activists have been trying to get the City to plan for the inevitable need for winter shelter, both during the day and overnight. No plan was developed and thus, when temperatures dropped to dangerously cold levels, we had to treat those circumstances as an emergency. It is not really an emergency if the event was foreseen and the policy makers failed to plan for it. It is an emergency in that people had to rush into action at the last minute due to the lack of a plan.

Any winter without a temperature related death is like a year without a fire related death. Policy makers feel no reason to address the potential problems of extreme cold or fire staffing when there is no emergency or crisis. This winter is giving us life threatening temperatures and we must use it as an opportunity to change policies. Let’s not digress into debate about whether we can solve all of the problems at the same time. Let’s address the most obvious problems first, then move to the next problem

I have heard suggestions that we simply ignore the conditions of particular facilities in order to address an emergency need. Almost simultaneously, I heard a complaint that putting homeless people on the floor of the Delonis Center lunch room with little more than a yoga mat was dehumanizing. Let’s accept that emergency shelter will not be permanent shelter and that permanent shelter is not available for every person in need.

What I intend to work on is finding funding for expanded day and night shelter when temperatures drop below 40 degrees. In the long term, I want to work to develop a plan that can be implemented when emergency conditions require expanded shelter. I also wish to work on defining the meaning of affordable housing and try to address the need for entry level, low wage and other levels of affordable housing. The long term housing issues will require working with County representatives, because the City relinquished those responsibilities to the County years ago. It makes no sense to set up an independent, parallel program, rather than working cooperatively.

All of these issues are related to our ability to find funding. When I emphasize spending priorities, I don’t just mean firefighters, police officers and leaf pick up. I mean we must stop spending stupidly so that we can afford to address a full spectrum of problems, including basic shelter. I hope you will try to support each incremental step in the process of addressing these needs and not fault your allies for failing to solve all of the problems at the same time. This “crisis” can be used to leverage policy changes, if we work together. 

Jack Eaton is an Ann Arbor City Council member.