Michigan has been using new strategies to fight homelessness in the state. Now, we hear that over the past two years homelessness has dropped by 9%.
One major reason people often remain homeless is their inability to find places to rent. Recruiting landlords to give people with poor rental histories a second chance state housing officials say has been part of a new strategy and an ongoing success.
Kelly Rose is the Chief Housing Solutions Officer for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
“Many folks that experience homelessness it will be for one time. It will be very short and then they’ll get back onto their feet. They don't necessarily need any financial assistance. They just need help getting re-hooked up with a landlord or other sorts of things”.
Rose said there are resources available to help landlords avoid having to evict tenants over rental disputes.
“There’s help there for the landlords in order to help engage with the person to help avoid an eviction, which we know from a landlords perspective is costly. Going through that legal process costs them time and money. So, we want to avoid that at all costs”.
Rose said many people experience homelessness for only a short period of time. She said they often just need help finding a landlord to give them a second chance after the rough patch in their life.
