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Plans to open up the Hope House Homeless Shelter will go forward, despite growing concerns and dissention on the shelter’s board.
Shelter President and CEO John Niemela said the board met Tuesday and decided to continue.
Niemela said, “There still a big need in the community. We’re saddened by the departure of a couple of the other board members and we wish them well and we’re doing everything we can to still try to hit our target date of November 1st for opening the shelter.”
The decision follows the resignation of two other board members and media reports of concerns raised by local law enforcement.
Niemela said the figures he has quoted from the Department Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority (MSHDA) have been called into question.
He explains that the estimate of 149 homeless in the area include both actual homeless and those who are in imminent danger of being homeless.
Niemela said, “The sad thing is with law enforement saying they don’t see the numbers, granted we don’t have the little tent villages where you see people that are homeless that are lined up on a city street in their tents or their little makeshift shelters or we don’t see people pushing around their shopping carts with their entire life savings in the shopping cart, like you might see in the urban areas, but those are actually the numbers that we do have in Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw Counties.”
Other concerns include homeless individuals coming from outside the area to stay at the shelter and there could be an increase in local crime.
Niemela said they plan to have two community meetings by the end of September so they can address these and other concerns.
The dates and locations of those meetings still need to be determined.
