Residents and advocates press Washtenaw County commissioners on affordable housing, shelter and unarmed crisis response

Several residents and a county employee used the public-comment period at Washtenaw County’s first board meeting of the year to press commissioners on affordable housing and to ask the county to respond to two Ypsilanti City Council resolutions that requested county support for a permanent shelter and an unarmed crisis response program.

Jeremy Haley, who identified himself as an Ipswich Township resident, told commissioners he recently purchased a house using a Michigan State Housing Development Authority program and said the county’s housing market “leaves nobody in between.” “You either have half $1,000,000 plus homes or you have to live in apartments,” Haley said, adding that many people beginning careers or starting families cannot find homes priced in the lower ranges.

Kat Layton, an Ypsilanti resident, told the board that the Ypsilanti City Council had unanimously passed two resolutions the previous night requesting county action: one asking the county to allocate funds for a permanent shelter in Ypsilanti, and a second requesting county commitment to an unarmed crisis response program and direction toward issuing or coordinating an RFP. Layton cited 750 Towner as a possible facility and said millage funds managed through community mental health (CMH) have been used for renovations there and are not supporting a full 24/7 crisis center yet.

Mary Campbell, president of AFSCME Local 2733 and a Washtenaw County employee, also offered congratulations to the newly sworn commissioners and joined the public-comment period.

Several commissioners acknowledged the comments and urged further, structured deliberation. “I would like to invite a conversation with our sheriff,” Commissioner Light said about forming an unarmed response program, noting the subject required more than the three-minute public-comment window. Commissioner LaBarr said the county’s Continuum of Care retreat next week will be an opportunity to bring data — including PIT (point-in-time) counts and direct-service responses — into discussions about shelter location and capacity, and to monitor federal policy changes that could affect funding. Commissioner Hodge told Haley he would follow up by email to discuss the housing concerns he raised.

Commissioners also pointed to existing resources and next steps rather than immediate commitments. Commissioner Light observed that transportation funding recently reported at the federal level — a $20 million allocation to the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AATA), referenced during discussion — could influence shelter-access decisions if transportation to facilities is a barrier for residents. Several commissioners asked for collaboration with municipal leaders in Ypsilanti and across eastern Washtenaw County before the board considers allocating county operational funds.

Why it matters: Ypsilanti residents and advocates are pressing the county to take a role in shelter operations and crisis response, and commissioners signaled willingness to pursue follow-up conversations grounded in local data and intergovernmental coordination rather than immediate funding commitments.