KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Recent explosions at a tent city in Kalamazoo have reignited concerns about the homeless, especially with extreme cold headed our way.
Twice in one week, several propane tanks erupted at the encampment off Mills St. Efforts to address homelessness were discussed at both the City and County Board meetings this week. City Manager Jim Ritsema says agencies have created other shelter opportunities and the city has been providing some basic services at the encampments. They also bought the Knights Inn Motel and reopened it as a shelter, but Ritsema says more is needed.
“We are calling on our partners at the county and across our community to help us devise a suitable plan that allows the most vulnerable in our community to live in an environment that is safe and warm.”
County Officials say their new housing millage will provide a long term solution, but Commissioner Zac Bauer says short term, they are still failing.
“With multiple organizing bodies in multiple different places throughout the county, it doesn’t work. We need to be comfortable with the idea that these various bodies need to be brought together.”
The multi-agency effort to deal with the local homeless crisis was sparked two years ago when a lengthy polar vortex in 2018 threatened lives and eventually triggered months of protests, including the one in Bronson Park.
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