Downtown TR homeless resource center seeks DDA support; public hearing set after debate

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

THREE RIVERS — A debate on both sides last week ultimately led to the scheduling of a public hearing to determine what support should be given to a new downtown homeless resource center.

At its Thursday, Sept. 14 meeting, the Three Rivers Downtown Development Authority board scheduled a public hearing for their next meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 5 to get feedback from downtown businesses and community members on Homeless Outreach Practiced Everyday (HOPE), a new homeless resource center currently being set up at the back entrance to 1 N. Main St.

Casey Tobias, who founded and runs HOPE, sought support from the DDA board during the meeting for a letter of recommendation to help in her pursuit of a grant from the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People to help support the fledgling organization. HOPE performs outreach to those experiencing homelessness in the area, assisting them with pre-packaged food, hygiene products, personal care items, and being a liaison between the homeless community and local resources and job opportunities in St. Joseph County.

In a presentation given to the board, Tobias discussed how she started HOPE about eight months ago after quitting her job at the Sunoco gas station in town following multiple robberies and ultimately opening her home’s garage to help the homeless community three days a week. She said HOPE was recently incorporated, is in the process of acquiring nonprofit status, and was recently offered a space in downtown Three Rivers to open a resource center for the homeless community, doing so for a number of reasons.

“I’m trying to build the resource center because I was tired of seeing articles in our newspaper about the homeless people showing their crack in front of our library,” Tobias said. “I’d like to give them a place to go where they can get a belt, something to eat before they go to a job interview, charge their phone, get on the internet and perhaps get an ID so they can get a job.”

Tobias said while not everyone experiencing homeless can be “saved,” per some of her interactions, she said there are people that need help and want it in that community, giving anecdotes to the board about some of the people that she has helped in the past few months, as well as how the community in Three Rivers has supported her efforts thus far.

“I was helping a homeless couple, and another lady walked up and she said, ‘are all these people for you?’ I live on a cul-de-sac, I live on a U-drive, and when I walked out of my driveway and I looked around my U, I could not see the end of the line of people who were in my driveway. These people weren’t there to get help, they weren’t. I got two turkeys that day, a whole bunch of baby clothes, 50 blankets and tents. It was phenomenal the people that came to my house that day, and all I did was put out a call that I needed help,” Tobias said. “This community wants to come together. This community wants the help.”

Her ultimate plan for the resource center is to have it open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, as Tobias said the organization has “outgrown” the two-car garage at her home. She said from 8-9 a.m., they would help those experiencing homelessness with food, hygiene and possible transportation to resources in the county, while from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., they would have regular business hours, and at night, from 6-10 p.m., the space would be open as a meeting space. Four different groups, Tobias said, have expressed interest in holding meetings.

“We want to make Three Rivers thrive. We want to make it a better community, and we want to get the people off our streets,” Tobias said. “We want to help the people who are nearly homeless, and we want to give them all a place to come, where if we don’t have the resources, we can give it to them.”

Following the presentation was a brief question-and-answer session with Tobias. City Manager and board member Joe Bippus asked her if there was any space available at any local churches, to which Tobias said there wasn’t, and that she wasn’t a member of the local episcopal church, where she helps out with the Community Kitchen. She added that she has been in talks with Elwood Staffing to do on-site job applications at the resource center.

In terms of third-floor storage for HOPE, Candy Zeismer, who co-owns the building Tobias will be using, said the third floor is being prepared to be cleaned to utilize the space for storage. Tobias added she’s been working with the Historic District Commission, and got approval for a door replacement, and there will be work done on the cement on the building.

Tobias was then asked if she has received any backlash to her efforts from downtown businesses, and she said, to her knowledge, she hasn’t, with a couple businesses already helping out with items.

“The downtown businesses, to the best of my knowledge, are very happy to see we’re pulling them off the street and giving them a place to go and giving them something to do,” Tobias said, stressing that the resource center will not offer boarding or residence in the building.

There were some concerns about being open for those later hours from 6-10 p.m., to which DDA Board Chair Andrew George replied that people experiencing homelessness “don’t just disappear,” noting there are different encampments in the city.

“These homeless people are not just disappearing at night. There are actually way more out there in public at night because they don’t have anywhere else to go,” George said. “These homeless people are still here. They’re not going anywhere, they don’t magically disappear at night, and they still need service.”

Following the Q&A, the board discussed the motion to assist HOPE. George said there were “two sides to the coin” when it comes to homeless resource centers, noting that concerns included a fear of “attracting or enabling” homeless people to come to the area, but argued the benefits outweighed the risks of it being downtown.

“There’s no room for treating homeless people like we’re enabling them, especially if we’re not in the same position,” George said. “We have an opportunity here to show Three Rivers is a community of compassion for everybody. Part of the DDA, and a major part, if not the most important part of what we do, is economic vitality. I know that oftentimes, when we think of those words, we think of how vital a business is or a building is or what that building look like, but it also encompasses our people, our citizens and their economic vitality. We can’t have successful businesses in our district if we don’t have successful people with money in their pocket to spend at those businesses. We have a public service duty, a civil service duty to help the most vulnerable around us.”

Board Vice Chair Charlie Wolgamood agreed, saying that he supports Tobias and HOPE, and noted that some people experiencing homelessness also have some mental health and substance use issues. However, he said there is at least the opportunity for helping the homeless community.

“We can help the people here, let’s do it. I know Keystone is overrun and they don’t have the resources over there,” Wolgamood said. “If we get another resource person who’s willing to do it, I’m fine with it.”

To the contrary, Bippus said he was against the resource center being downtown, saying the city and DDA has “invested hard” in making downtown appealing, and that the center would “detract” from the progress downtown has made.

“I don’t think this is what Michigan Main Street, national Main Street, when we send you guys over to conferences, this isn’t what they’re talking about doing to make a vibrant community in downtown,” Bippus said. “We’ve worked hard, we’ve invested hard in our community to bring this area back … and I think we’re on the cusp of, we have some really great things down here, and this is going to hurt that. It’s well-intentioned, and I get that. I’d rather see it hook up with another organization or church and work with someone that’s already stable and has a building, than to try to start something right in downtown.”

George pushed back on Bippus’ assertion that it wasn’t the stance of Main Street to not have any homeless resource centers in a downtown, adding that an anecdote Bippus gave about a homeless person traveling to Three Rivers from Saginaw shouldn’t be the reason the DDA doesn’t help the resource center. He also noted that the DDA doesn’t have the authority to disallow Tobias to set up her organization downtown.

Board member Rick Cordes then noted the question for the DDA is whether to send a letter of support for HOPE and what they do. While there was general support among most board members for doing so, Bippus said he would not support a letter of recommendation for the organization’s grant application.

The question then became about how many downtown businesses were aware that there was discussion about the DDA possibly lending support to HOPE, with Bippus noting that the action item was a “late notice” in the board packet.

“This is a very commendable thing, but we represent the downtown businesses. How do they feel? I’d like to know a little bit more about that,” board member Mary O’Connor said. Executive Director Cameron Mains said the DDA could “make an effort” to ask, with George adding if the board would want input from the businesses prior to making a decision, he was open to scheduling a public hearing, which was eventually done.

A motion had been made for the DDA to “offer any services that we can, that we would offer any other business in our district,” which would have included the letter of recommendation. After more back and forth on whether or not to simply table it to allow for the public hearing or vote on it outright, it eventually was voted on, with the motion dying via a 4-4 tie.

George expressed his disappointment that the subject wasn’t resolved during the meeting, and that there was even a debate at all about helping those experiencing homelessness downtown.

“I will say that I, Andrew George, fully support this, and do not understand why we are even in a position where we are debating whether or not it is a good idea to help the homeless people in our downtown,” George said. “I’m completely disheartened, I’m upset, it’s unfathomable to me. I hope next month we all figure out what we’re doing, and I hope that we can all operate on the same humanitarian and respectful level.”

In other business…

• The board authorized up to $1,500 for a stump and tree removal allocation.
• The board reallocation $689.10 that was overspent from Art on Main from the General Fund to the Art on Main project itself.

Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@threeriversnews.com.