Several residents used public comment on Jan. 5 to press the Lansing City Council for faster action on homelessness and better coordination among nonprofits and city departments.

Joanne Galloway, executive director of Michigan Country and a Lansing resident, thanked council members for recent relief efforts for people moved from a JHA property to a hotel and said community groups have provided meals, transportation and laundry. She warned, however, that "headlines and snippets that talk about we're doing something to help them, can mean nothing if there's really literally no place for them to go," and urged continued attention to permanent placements before temporary hotel stays expire.

Other commenters pressed for structural coordination. One speaker urged expanding a planned monthly public meeting about Mod Pods into a broader homelessness task force to ensure nonprofits, the HRCS and city staff share data and avoid duplicative efforts. The speaker recommended weekly public updates from staff about which hotels are in use, how many people remain, and what services (IDs, food assistance, benefits enrollment) are being provided.

Resident SJ raised neighborhood noise and enforcement complaints and questioned whether city-contracted service organizations are delivering promised supports, citing difficulty obtaining accessible-housing lists and disability-literate legal referrals. Paula Simon described an alleged contractor incident involving plastic dumped into a manhole during a CSO project and asked the council to ensure contractors are held to standards.

A final public speaker, Carver Rakoff, delivered an emotional appeal for compassion toward unhoused people and criticized enforcement approaches that make sheltering or resting in public difficult.

The council did not take formal action on these public comments during the meeting; requests and recommendations were recorded in the public record for follow-up by staff and council members.