On a cold, slushy afternoon, about a half dozen residents at East Bay Flats were chatting and smoking outside the building’s only entrance.
Wendy Mcclain, who has lived there for nearly a year, shared a pack of Newport cigarettes with neighbors.
“We have some good people, bad people. We have people here doing meth, pulling the fire alarm, throwing knives on people, breaking a window, a refrigerator, stove," Mcclain said. "But otherwise it's good."
Three years ago, Goodwill Northern Michigan bought the Traverse City apartment complex in a bid to turn a long-held idea into a reality — housing without conditions on sobriety or employment.
Studies show this kind of program reduces homelessness by almost 90%. But what the day-to-day experience looks like is often less talked about.
Soon after their purchase, all 64 apartments were set aside as permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. Now, those apartments are full and advocates can see how that idea works in northern Michigan.
While Mcclain shared her frustrations, she also said living at the Flats had been a positive experience. Before this, she lived for years in the local homeless encampment known as the Pines.
“I really like it here," she said. "It's an upgrade having four walls, something to eat, a pot, a bathroom."
Across the U.S., there are more than 400,000 permanent supportive housing units, but the model remains controversial.
Critics of permanent supportive housing and Housing First strategies argue that merely providing housing does not solve homelessness, but instead increases demand. Homelessness, critics say, needs to be treated at its roots, which they identify as addiction and mental illness.
Still, studies show permanent supportive housing not only decreases homelessness, but is also associated with a reduction in substance abuse over time.
Kenneth Funk, a Traverse City commissioner, has seen the Flats up close in another role — responding as a firefighter.
“I could easily say that in the last two years, I've probably been here 20 to 30 times,” he said.
Those visits have included medical emergencies, behavioral health crises and drug overdoses.
“That’s a concern, but it's unfair to label these people as all having a problem when this type of stuff happens in regular homes all around the city,” Funk said.
Incident reports from the Traverse City Police Department, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show officers responded to the Flats more than 300 times in the past two years.
Each of those responses costs money, which Funk said could be reduced with additional security.
“That might mean a joint venture with the city to spend money on a security guard here,” he said.
"This has been a social policy problem for hundreds of years. It really comes down to 'who’s worthy of our help?' I think everyone’s worthy of our love and support."DAN BURON | CEO of Goodwill Northern Michigan
Funk said it’s important to consider the alternative.
“If they aren't living in Safe Harbor, and they aren't living in East Bay Flats," Funk said, "they're living outside in tents and they're not getting access to help that they need."
Dan Buron, CEO of Goodwill Northern Michigan, said permanent supportive housing is often the first step in what can be a long process toward independent living.
"[It] may take one or two or three times for the person to get housed for it to stick," said Buron. "It does take a patience on our part to know that we're going to do what we can to help people to be successful, but accepting the fact that there are going to be some people who aren't going to make it."
The work can be difficult, especially for caseworkers, Buron said, but a majority of residents do stay housed. Early results from Goodwill’s supportive housing efforts are also showing promise.
People are finding jobs and getting medical care. Some residents need more support to stay housed, but Buron said this is just the beginning.
“This has been a social policy problem for hundreds of years,” he said. “It really comes down to 'who’s worthy of our help?' I think everyone’s worthy of our love and support."
“We kind of accept them for where they’re at and who they are, and help them to move forward to the best capacity that we can … and accept that that is in itself worthy and necessary and important for society to do.”
East Bay Flats is still in the early stages, but it recently secured stable, long-term funding.
Buron told IPR the support comes through the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which will provide rental assistance for the entire building for the next 30 years.
