Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Hope Shelters urges Oakland County to fund new low-barrier shelter as demand outstrips capacity
Summary
Elizabeth Kelly, interim CEO of Hope Shelters, told Oakland County commissioners the nonprofit needs sustained funding to open a new more-private shelter with more than 100 beds, saying the agency currently turns away about a dozen people nightly and needs roughly $900,000 a year to operate expanded services.
Elizabeth Kelly, interim chief executive officer of Hope Shelters, asked Oakland County commissioners to consider financial support for a new low-barrier shelter and expanded services, saying the nonprofit routinely turns away people because current capacity is insufficient.
Kelly told the board Hope Shelters operates two facilities in Pontiac — an emergency shelter on Baldwin Avenue and a separate recuperative shelter for people discharged from hospitals — and provides around-the-clock services. “We operate 2 low barrier shelters,” Kelly said, adding that the organization does not require sobriety checks or background checks for admission.
Kelly said the county currently has roughly 185 shelter beds across providers and that, on a single night in January, agencies count between “4 and 600 people living rough.”…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
