by Ken Toll
Have you heard the news? Homelessness is not a problem in Jackson County.
If you believe that statement, I have a bridge to sell you. Don’t be surprised if you find an unsheltered person living there.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard fellow citizens, including folks I’ve known for a long time, insist that homelessness doesn’t afflict people in our community.
Never mind the facts, including a point-in-time count by the City of Jackson on May 31 that found 233 unhoused people.
Never mind that the most common query we have been getting at United Way this past year is from individuals and families trying to find shelter—many after discovering Interfaith is full, and many after exhausting their scant savings at local hotels.
Never mind that, for the first time since we started Central Michigan 2-1-1, calls for housing assistance have landed on two lists: top needs that can be met, and top needs that can’t—the latter especially troubling, as stable, affordable housing is vital for people to achieve financial stability.
Never mind that new data from the Jackson CARE Hub, a screening and needs assessment tool that has been taken by nearly two-thirds of all Jackson County residents, identified housing as the number-one need across Jackson County.
I’ve been doing this job for well over 15 years. Never in that time have I seen needs data from multiple sources converge like they are now. Years ago, this United Way vowed to follow actual data to guide our work. Every single data source that we trust points to housing as Jackson’s top need.
Despite all of this evidence, the word out there is that homelessness isn’t a problem. Any suggestion to the contrary is considered fake news—or worse, a self-fulfilling prophecy. That misguided thought goes like this: The more we try to help people who experience homelessness regain their lives, the more we’ll draw in “those” people from outside our community.
As a lifelong resident here, I have a lot of pride in Jackson. But I admit, hearing this line of reasoning both stuns and discourages me.
Hand-waving away a persistent human need, or belittling those who seek to address it, is a shocking, heartless perspective to hold. Not to mention inhumane.
That’s not the Jackson I know.
That’s not the community that came together in powerful ways to help those afflicted by the economic effects of COVID-19.
That’s not the community that has rallied time and time again to help our children learn and succeed, to provide access to health care, to drive down teen pregnancy, to assure a strong 2-1-1 resource, to feed the hungry, to support employers and employees alike … I could go on.
The Jackson I know is compassionate. The Jackson I know doesn’t wear blinders. The Jackson I know looks the tough issues straight in the eye and says, “We got this.”
The Jackson I know sees what United Way and a diverse array of partners are striving to achieve: lasting solutions for homelessness. We see real people with real challenges—and we work together to help them find pathways to a better life.
This blog is my invitation to you: Be part of the solution.
Lay the blinders aside. Reject the worries and the misconceptions and the outright falsehoods. Join us as we pursue exciting ways to transform people’s lives.
When this community comes together to solve problems, we get things done. For the people of Jackson County who are unhoused, that’s a beacon of real, meaningful hope. Nothing fake about it.
That’s the Jackson I know.
Ken Toll is President & CEO of United Way of Jackson County.