During their meeting this week, the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners approved $400,000 over the next two years in county funds to help shift the services of the shelter Safe Harbor of Grand Traverse from seasonal to year-round.
According to Safe Habor board member and spokesperson Josh Brandt, the funds will help keep employees throughout the summer and maintain the shelter's operations.
“Our regular season shelter budget is around $500,000 and with the work that we've done to project what it would take to go year-round, we estimate that it would be about $1.1 million to meet the needs,” Brandt said.
The shelter will receive $200,000 for the remainder of this year and another $200,000 in 2026. They also received donations from the Traverse City Commission and other philanthropic organizations.
Previously the shelter was only open from Oct. 15 to April 30. In January, officials on behalf of the shelter asked the board to support their extension in hopes of helping the county's homeless population.
Director of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness Ashley Halladay-Schmandt said a task force will be created and will, “bring together different levels of government, community partners, service providers, neighbors to create a comprehensive and region-specific plan to prevent and end homelessness.”
Vice Chair of the Grand Traverse County Commissioners TJ Andrews said today’s allocation is vital to help better the county.
“If we cannot find $200,000 in our general fund budget to support transit overnight shelter for the most vulnerable members of our community, we’re not serving our community,” Andrews said. “We need to dedicate it to this. Get some information, get some metrics, get people out of the pines and off the street.”
Commissioner Darryl Nelson was the only commissioner who voted down the funding. He said that he fully supports Safe Harbor’s mission and the development of the task force but felt concerned about where the funding was coming from.
“Unless it is part of a process, unless we indicated the part of the money, it undoes what we did April through December in the budget process,” Nelson said. “I would rather do this right, not shoot from the hip.”
Chairman Scott Sieffert said he understands where Nelson is concerned but stated that the district libraries are funded by millage dollars and have spent money on security each year in response to homelessness. He said taxpayers are already paying the price.
The next step for Safe Harbor, according to Brandt, is to get their land permit approved by the Traverse City Planning Commission and move forward with getting employees ready for the summer.
