Hope Shelters urges Oakland County to fund new low-barrier shelter as demand outstrips capacity

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.” She said Hope Shelters turns away “about a dozen people a night,” even in summer, and plans a new facility of more than 100 beds to reduce overflow.

The presentation included cost and outcome figures the nonprofit uses to argue for public investment. Kelly said an emergency-shelter night at Hope costs about $50, a recuperative-shelter night about $75, while a hospital visit for someone without housing can exceed $3,000. She asked commissioners to consider a funding model that would amount to about $17 per month per household across Oakland County (about 528,000 households), which Kelly said would yield roughly $900,000 annually to support operating costs and living wages for staff.

Kelly described Hope’s service model as intensive and low-barrier: the shelter provides food, clothing, medical and mental-health services in partnership with county and community providers, helps clients secure identity documents, and operates persistent case management to help people obtain stable housing. She said more than half of Hope’s clients are discharged into safe housing and that the shelter’s one-year recidivism rate is under 5%.

Commissioners praised the work and asked for follow-up numbers. Commissioner Angela Powell said the homeless population is countywide, not limited to Pontiac: “These homeless people come from everywhere. They're not just from Pontiac,” she said, and urged staff to provide specific funding requests so commissioners and the executive’s office could consider options. Kelly told the board she can provide a detailed annual figure and said the $900,000 estimate would cover a 50% share of operating costs in the nonprofit’s funding model.

Following the presentation, Commissioner Taylor moved and Commissioner Gershenson supported a motion to receive and file the Hope Shelters presentation; the board approved the motion.

Why this matters: Hope Shelters’ request highlights a gap between shelter capacity and county need as federal and pandemic-era funding streams wind down. The group’s proposal emphasizes lower-cost, community-based services and individual rooms in a new facility to accommodate clients who do not thrive in large dormitory settings.

Kelly concluded by inviting commissioners to tour the organization’s existing facilities and to consider an investment partnership. She said the new shelter site is adjacent to Hope’s current Baldwin Avenue location and that the group has assembled multiple lots to build on-site.