KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – With winter just beginning, Kalamazoo City Commissioners are considering an Emergency Ordinance to provide temporary housing for the homeless who refuse to use shelters.
If all goes as planned, it will be in place early next month.
Planning Director Rebekah Kik says it gives local agencies a way to legally build temporary shelters.
She says they have up to around $2-million in federal, state and COVID-19 relief dollars that might be available to leverage funding from non-profits or church groups with the right plans.
The temporary homes would come with rules, and must provide walls, heat, and be able to handle a snow-load. City Attorney Clyde Robinson says it should end the need for illegal encampments.
The Emergency Order would expire in September 2022. By then the city hopes to have a more permanent solution.
It comes despite the fact the community will soon have ten homeless shelters. Mayor Dave Anderson says the largest is the Gospel Mission, which is being expanded.
The city even has some specialized shelters to help veterans, single mothers with children, teens, and young members of the LGBTQ community.
Commissioners are expected to approve the Emergency Ordinance at their December 6, 2021 meeting.
Where are they dropping of illegal aliens in Kalamazoo country? Where are they housing them? Which stories are about illegal aliens vs homeless citizens? What about the rise in crime in Kalamazoo and Portage? Are prosecutors letting criminals out like other cities in liberal controlled areas? Citizens need to know.