The Hillsdale City Council denied HOPE Harbor’s request on Monday to forgive a $2,834 fine issued after the city ordered the removal of its tent in October.
“I have learned from the past that leniency on taxes leads to more leniency on taxes,” Ward 4 Councilman Robert Socha said. “If we keep being lenient, we are going to have to keep being lenient.”
HOPE Harbor — which stands for Hillsdale Opportunity Promoting Empowerment — was formerly a makeshift homeless shelter called Camp Hope, before it closed Oct. 16 after the council deemed its tent structure unsafe for occupancy. HOPE Harbor is the name for a new sober transitional housing facility that its director, Missy DesJardin, plans to build behind Hillsdale Community Thrift.
DesJardinhopes to use a former storage building to house residents, but the project hit a roadblock two weeks ago when the Hillsdale Planning Commission rejected a request to convert the storage building into a “dwelling facility.” DesJardin said she plans to appeal the decision.
Keri Stewart, president of the board of directors for HOPE Harbor, said at the meeting that the fine will cause financial hardship for the future of the facility.
“The fines and costs from this incident, while understandable, will take away critical resources from the very people we are trying to help,” Stewart said. “We are asking for your understanding and forgiveness so that we can continue serving our community together.”
Stewart said this request should come as no surprise, citing the council’s decision in 2023 to forgive part of a fine issued to the Hillsdale Mobile Home Park.
“We are not asking for special treatment,” Stewart said. “This type of forgiveness was given to the mobile home park.”
City Manager David Mackie said at the meeting that these two cases did not compare.
“I would say it’s comparing apples and oranges here,” Mackie said. “That was a different issue that the council negotiated with the mobile home park; the fees that the mobile home park assessed was based on a statute.”
Stewart emphasized that Camp Hope served more than 300 homeless people in Hillsdale at no extra cost to the city, an effort she said should be encouraged.
“Camp Hope was only supposed to be a temporary solution until the city or another organization offered a permanent solution,” Stewart said. “We stepped up and provided a space to get them the help they needed, which in turn has helped solve problems on our trails and downtown.”
Ward 3 Councilman Gary Wolfram argued the city should acknowledge the organization’s contributions to the city by helping the homeless.
“They are providing a service to the city; maybe we could think of this as paying them for their service,” Wolfram said. “The $2,800 is a minimal payment.”
Ward 2 Councilman Matthew Bentley expressed sympathy but insisted the problems surrounding Camp Hope will continue with HOPE Harbor. Bentley cited the history of frequent noise complaints from residents in the neighboring Apple Run apartments will persist.
“I would be inclined to mercy except the issues are going to continue, and the issue is that the Apple Run residents have been tearing their hair out for forever, so I am inclined to be sympathetic with them,” Bentley said. “I am not trying to crush you out of business.”
