PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The city of Portage has joined the city of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County to help fund a new emergency transitional shelter for homeless families.
Last night, the Portage city council approved an intergovernmental agreement to provide up to half a million for the acquisition and construction of the facility.
Currently, none of the shelters in the county allow men and women to stay together, let alone whole families.
Councilmember Terry Urban says it will be located at a former hotel in the city of Kalamazoo, just north of Portage.
Urban says he is glad they can help.
County sources say the facility will need extensive renovation before it could be opened and probably won’t be available before this winter sets in.
The city of Kalamazoo has committed $1.2-million to the project and Kalamazoo County has also committed funding from the housing millage.
With Housing Resources Incorporated abandoning its POD project, the latest homeless census showing their numbers rising in Kalamazoo, and the federal housing voucher program frozen, the need for alternatives has never been greater.
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