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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Kent County has seen a slight increase in the number of people in homeless shelters over the past year, according to preliminary data from the annual “at some point” count.
The count was made on January 27 by the Grand Rapids Coalition to End Homelessness and its partner organizations. Recently released data shows that 892 people were in either emergency shelters or transitional housing in the county on that date.
Around the same time in 2020, there were 837 people – 55 fewer shelter residents counted. In 2019, 712 people were counted in shelters in the area.
“I can confidently say that we are seeing an increase in the number of people staying at our shelters,” said Courtney Meyers-Keaton, coordinator of the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness.
“It’s not an incredibly drastic increase, but if you look at the trends over time, we’ve seen these increases of 8% (every year).”
Meyers-Keaton said this year’s tally numbers are preliminary and the coalition is still digging into some of the trends and comparisons behind the numbers.
Each year, the coalition and its partners also count the number of homeless people sleeping outside on the count date.
But that part of the tally must have been done differently this year due to COVID-19, with workers doing their tally based on observing the people and tents they saw. In previous years, workers conducted interviews and follow-ups to make sure everyone was counted.
Because of this, the number of homeless people this year, which was 77, cannot be reliably compared to previous years, Meyers-Keaton said. If anything, the number of homeless people could be higher, she said.
She said homeless people were more visible in Kent County during the pandemic.
End December, the city of Grand Rapids emptied an encampment of around 100 people living in downtown Heartside Park after opening an overflow shelter for single adults.
The annual one-time tally is mandated every two years by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Meyers-Keaton said she was surprised the number of shelters this year was not much larger than the number in 2020, given the economic downturn and other factors related to the pandemic.
However, she said, government funding to stabilize households and keep people in their homes, along with the moratorium on ongoing evictions, may have helped.
Meyers-Keaton said another reason is that there is a disconnect between people who lose their homes and become homeless. Usually there is a transition to a personal support network of friends or family providing a place to stay.
Advocates have previously told MLive / The Grand Rapids Press that the pandemic has placed stress on these personal support networks for many, as doubling down on families and friends in one household during the pandemic can create concern. as to infection.
Related: Pandemic doubles number of families at Kent County homeless shelters
The number of families in Kent County homeless shelters has doubled since the start of the pandemic due to several factors.
In March 2020, the shelters were at regular capacity with 40 families. In January 2021, around 85 families, or around 340 parents and children, were accommodated.
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