How local housing advocates plan to house 100 people in 100 days

Before the end of the year, 100 chronically unhoused people in Grand Rapids will have a place to live — at least that’s what local housing advocates are working toward.

The Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness, a collaborative of more than 60 organizations, agencies, municipalities and individuals with a mission to end homelessness locally, set out with a lofty goal — house 100 chronically unhoused people in 100 days. 

Now they’re gearing up to begin housing placements in September.

“What we are doing through the 100 in 100 initiative is we’re looking at what other resources exist in our community that we haven’t traditionally used through our system,” said Courtney Myers-Keaton, continuum of care director at the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness. “We’re really looking at how [we can] find unique ways of housing people quickly that we haven’t been able to do before.”

Kent County has one of the highest rates of homelessness in Michigan, with 188 individuals unhoused per 100,000 residents, according to Housing Kent data. In 2023, it was estimated over 1,200 people experienced homelessness nightly in Kent County—738 being unaccompanied adults and 501 being families with children.

Black and Hispanic/Latinx residents are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness. According to Housing Kent’s data dashboard, 8.9 out of 1,000 Black residents and 2.3 out of 1,000 Hispanic/Latinx residents were unhoused, compared to just 1.1 out of 1,000 white residents. 

The Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness is seeking at least $100,000 in funding to house individuals in private units and cover the cost of rent, security deposits and potential damages. At this point, the coalition has only received private donations and the amount is “nominal,” Myers-Keaton said.

The housing choice voucher program, also know as Section 8, provides subsidized rent for low-income households renting private property. The Grand Rapids Housing Commission, which administers the voucher program, now has a “homeless preference” designation to set aside for people experiencing homelessness. Myers-Keaton points to this as an example of how housing advocates find creative solutions with already in-place systems.

The coalition is developing what Myers-Keaton calls a “case management model” to ensure individuals who receive these vouchers have access to the same, if not more intensive, supportive services they would receive if they had been connected to a more traditional permanent supportive housing resource.  

When resources become available, the coalition uses a “by-name list” to determine who gets connected to resources first, based primarily on risk level. There is a “by-name list” specifically for chronically unhoused individuals and this is how the coalition will be connecting people to the resources in this initiative. 

There are 208 individuals on the coalition’s chronic by-name list, according to Myers-Keaton.

The coalition will be utilizing a combination of resources for this initiative, including buildings that have been designated for use as permanent supportive housing and vouchers in the private rental market.

“What we’re trying to do is work with landlords specifically to set aside units for people in the system … so that way they don’t have to utilize the private market search on their own and we can just let them know we have these units available,” said Myers-Keaton.

One of the strategies being tested through this initiative is a landlord liaison, an individual familiar with the system and property management who can serve as a point person for the landlord and help facilitate the landlord-tenant relationship. 

While the coalition is hoping to begin housing people in September, some referrals have already been made, said Myers-Keaton. This initiative is expected to wrap up before 2025.

The coalition is working with a number of community partners, including the City of Grand Rapids, Network180, the Grand Rapids Housing Commission, Housing Kent and Kent County, to make this initiative happen. 

The community will be able to stay informed about the initiative’s progress on the coalition’s website. There will also be presentations about the lessons learned from this initiative and next steps.

“Our goal isn’t to just house 100 in 100,” said Myers-Keaton. “Our goal is that we take the learnings from this initiative so that we can scale up the different strategies that we’re testing and apply them to the whole system.”