Everyone deserves a place to call home.  Here are our strategies to end homelessness, which we’ve been working on since we presented them at the ISAAC Public Meeting:

1. Giving a “Local History of Racism and Segregation” workshop, jointly with Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) later this winter, for municipal officials in our county to see how federal and local policies have caused the housing inequities in our county and to plan how to repair that harm.
2. Sharing the Fair Housing amendments and Fair Chance laws that Jackson, Lansing, East Lansing, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids have adopted, making “source of income” discrimination illegal and preventing blanket rejection of renters’ applications without considering individual circumstances.
3. Supporting our local governments’ affordable housing efforts, by learning the steps of the approval process, building relationships with local officials, and speaking at public comment time in our cities and townships’ elected officials’ meetings.
4. Holding up exemplary local affordable housing initiatives, like Selinon Park being built on E. Centre Ave. in Portage with 66 affordable apartments and townhomes, and the 6 Tiny Houses of H.O.P.E. pilot project.

–the first buildings in the new “Live Work” zones on the Northside, created by Kalamazoo City Planners in response to residents’ wishes.

– Tobi Hanna-Davies, Housing Task Force co-chair with Stephanie Hoffman, Executive Director of Open Doors Kalamazoo