Some homeless people in Hillsdale camp in parks and along trails. Courtesy | Facebook

The City of Hillsdale’s Homeless Task Force met for the first time on Feb. 14 for a briefing on local homelessness.

“We have a lot of individuals coming together from different walks of life around the city who have different lived experiences,” said Stephanie Myers, chair of the task force. “Although they come from various walks of life, all of them are passionate about this, and I think, putting all our heads together, we can make some progress.”

Stephanie Myers will chair the task force, and Josiah Lippincott will serve as its secretary. The Community Action Agency also briefed the task force on the funding the Hillsdale community receives, including its uses and limitations.

“We also got a good scope of how some of the published numbers for our population are developed, how they come up with those numbers, and what the different definitions mean,” Myers said.

Homelessness became part of the public conversation recently due to the problem’s recent visibility, according to Mayor Adam Stockford.

“The information that I get comes mostly from residents who are concerned about people on the trail encampments,” he said. “I’ve also seen a few encampments with my own eyes.”

Stockford, who was heavily involved in appointing members to the Homeless Task Force, said he prioritized individuals from the community.

“I really wanted the committee to be made up of at least 50% of just Hillsdale residents – people that have a vested interest in the community. I didn’t want it to be completely dominated by agency representatives,” Stockford said. “Some people reached out to me and wanted to be appointed; I reached out to other people I thought would be an asset on the committee.”

According to County Commissioner Brad Benzing, a newly appointed task force member, the data shows the homeless in Hillsdale are mostly local.

“The data from the Community Action Agency shows that these are not people from elsewhere. They are people with local roots,” Benzing said. “I believe that out of the 80 homeless people, only one of them self-identified as having come from out of our area.”

Despite increased visibility, Stuchell said the data shows homelessness in Hillsdale has not increased.

“Michigan’s trend is a downward trend if you look at it over five years, and in Hillsdale, the trend is pretty flat,” he said.

Benzing, who has worked as an advanced paramedic in Jackson for more than six years, compared Hillsdale’s homelessness to what he has seen there.

“We don’t find them sleeping on the green in front of the courthouse or on the sidewalks in downtown Hillsdale. Usually, they’re choosing to isolate a little bit away from those spaces,” he said.

Stuchell is concerned that homeless encampments in parks and on trails could pose a public safety issue.

“I’ve seen this, where a mother with two little children will go into the park, and they’ll see who’s in there, and they’ll come right back,” Stuchell said. “You’ll see them; they’re camped there, and people want to go for a bike ride or a walk. That’s an unsafe condition.”

Stockford said the committee’s role is currently ambiguous but that it will fill an advisory capacity.

“I’m hoping with all the extraordinary people on it, maybe they can come up with some ideas that the council can use, that the police department can use, and maybe some things that these agencies can commandeer as well,” he said.

Benzing, however, said it is essential to recognize that homelessness can be a lifestyle choice.

“There are people that make choices that might be different than ours, and we need to be accepting of those choices, but we also need not tolerate things that interfere with our own choices, our behaviors,” Benzing said. “The idea that we have people living in public parks, I don’t think that’s necessarily tolerable since we are creating conflicts there.”

Stuchell said he thinks the city should balance safety with helping the homeless.

“I believe that every 8-year-old kid in this town should get on his little bike and ride wherever he wants,” Stuchell said. “But how do we do that and at the same time provide a place where people without shelter can go?”