Daytime Center of Washtenaw County (2024) by
Storytelling for Social Change
‘People don’t know where they’re gonna go’ as Ypsilanti’s only daytime shelter closes
YPSILANTI, MI – Anthony Ray, 56, lost his apartment in September of last year. Amid a slew of medical issues and being unable to pay his bills, he lost his housing voucher.
“I didn’t know how I got back to this situation,” Ray said. He has been homeless before – once, for three years.
Ann Arbor faces controversy over canceled unarmed crisis response program
The city of Ann Arbor is facing controversy after canceling their search for a third party to implement an unarmed response program in the city last month. The request, opened in August, received only one application, which came from Care-Based Safety, an organization founded in Washtenaw County. CBS focuses on responding to conflict and crisis in Washtenaw County and community building to address the root causes of violence.
FedUp Ministries provides free showering program for Washtenaw County’s less fortunate residents
The January 2024 Washtenaw Continuum of Care data review found that 552 people were experiencing homelessness across the county at the end of 2023–a 15% increase since 2022. And a number of organizations in Ypsi and Ann Arbor are working with the area’s unhoused population, hosting warming centers in the cold months, providing hot meals and groceries on a weekly basis, and now showers. The team at FedUp Ministries, an Ann Arbor-based food truck committed to serving meals with dignity and to redistributing wealth in the community, is working with the warming center at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse in Depot Town, not only providing meals to those coming to warm up during the day, but a mobile shower facility as well.
Turning offices into bedrooms: Ann Arbor-area family home-
less shelter finds way to expand
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – Ideally, Alpha House wouldn’t exist.
The Ann Arbor-area shelter providing beds for families experiencing homelessness would love to be out of business, with no demand for its services and no families lacking stable housing, said Executive Director Shonagh Taruza.
But, given a sharp rise in families needing shelter as COVID-19 aid programs dried up and rent spiked, Alpha House is playing its part in a network of organizations rising to meet that demand, Taruza said.
Ministry sets up home base in Ypsilanti, hopes to fill gap left by warming center closure
YPSILANTI, MI — A Washtenaw County ministry that provides no-questions-asked free meals will soon have a home-base in Ypsilanti.
FedUp Ministries runs a mission-based free food truck, among other services. Starting in May, it will go brick-and-mortar for the first time.
Hoping to fill gaps left by the seasonal closure of the day time warming center at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse, Pastor Anna Taylor-McCants wants to give residents a “de-commodified space,” meaning people may freely congregate, visit and eat without having to spend money.
Ann Arbor hackathon aims to develop technological solutions to homelessness
From Feb. 16-18, the Washtenaw County-based veterans affairs group 2Marines will host a Homelessness Hackathon at the Sheraton Ann Arbor Hotel, located at 3200 Boardwalk Dr.
The event will bring together software developers, programmers, and tech enthusiasts for an intensive weekend spent collaborating on digital tools intended to alleviate problems associated with homelessness.
“Basically we’re sharpening our tools to be able to … help people faster,” says event organizer Joshua McAllister. McAllister is a founding member of 2Marines, a team of five veterans who have each experienced homelessness at some point in the past.
Homelessness Solidarity Network 