City workers remove Camp Hope on Oct. 16. Moira Gleason | Collegian 

Homeless residents watched as city workers pulled down the tent structure at Camp Hope Oct. 16, some sitting on beds and furniture inside the tent in protest until the last few moments. 

The Hillsdale City Council voted 5-3 at its Oct. 6 meeting to remove the structure. The council deemed the current tent structure unsafe for occupancy and cited concerns over zoning compliance, public safety, and the camp’s indefinite status. Residents moved out of the tent Oct. 15, according to Camp Hope founder Melissa “Missy” DesJardin, and the demolition team showed up the next morning at 8 a.m. 

DesJardin filed an application, including site plans for the new transitional living facility HOPE Harbor, with the Hillsdale Planning Commission Oct. 14. The HOPE Harbor project — which stands for Hillsdale Opportunity Promoting Empowerment — aims to convert the storage building behind Hillsdale Community Thrift into a sober transitional housing facility. 

The tent demolition would have been joyful if it had happened when HOPE Harbor was already up and running, according to Keri Stewart, president of the board of directors for HOPE Harbor.

“This would have been something to be celebrated,” Stewart said, as pink insulation blew across the lot behind Hillsdale Community Thrift and workers pulled apart the metal frame of the tent that housed 16 residents until last week. 

Ward 4 Councilman Robert Socha voted in favor of removing the tent structure.

“I think Missy’s efforts are to be praised, but the original agreement was that this was just going to be a temporary thing — six or seven months, and in the spring of 2024, it would be gone,” Socha told The Collegian last week. “But here we are, 2 1/2 years later, and it’s the same. At some point, you have to enforce the law.”

Several city officials, including City Assessor Kim Thomas and Public Services Director Jason Blake, assisted the Department of Public Services crew in taking down the structure. City police officers, firemen, and Board of Public Utilities electric workers were also on site. Workers endured verbal taunts from some onlookers, including DesJardin’s mother, Shelley Hebert, but the process was smoothly completed in a little over three hours.

The application for HOPE Harbor is currently under review by the city staff for completeness and compliance with local ordinances, Assistant City Manager Sam Fry said. Once the staff review is complete, the application will be forwarded to the planning commission, which will review the application Nov. 19 at the earliest.  

“The planning commission’s review will determine whether the proposed use of the property is consistent with the city of Hillsdale’s zoning ordinances,” Fry told The Collegian in an email. “If approved, the applicant would need to obtain a zoning compliance permit from the city and a building permit from the county prior to beginning any construction. Following completion of construction, the facility would have to pass all required inspections before a use and occupancy permit is granted, and the facility could open for use.”

Missy DesJardin and her husband, Brian, while Camp Hope is being removed. Moira Gleason | Collegian 

Over the past three years, Camp Hope housed more than 300 residents, the majority of whom stayed in the camp for three months or less, according to records DesJardin shared with The Collegian. The records indicate about 50% of residents moved from Camp Hope into permanent housing after they got back on their feet. 

Former Camp Hope resident Brent Gale, 42, said he was homeless in Hillsdale for two years before he moved into Camp Hope for two months. He is now seeking employment while moving into an apartment in Hillsdale.

“After two years of being in a tent surviving Michigan winters, this place was amazing,” Gale said at the demolition last week, pointing out the spot where his bed once stood. “This was a home.”

Gale said if he had not found DesJardin when he did, he would have relapsed into his methamphetamine addiction, landed in prison, or gotten killed.

“They’re destroying a lot of people’s sanctuary and their peace of mind,” Gale said. “It don’t look like much, but when you don’t have nothing, something like this is everything: a place to eat, a place to bathe, a place to do your laundry. People that will help you on the drop of a dime. You don’t find that anywhere else.”

Howard Spence, a resident in the neighboring Apple Run Apartments, thanked the city council for condemning Camp Hope at the council’s meeting Monday, expressing concerns for the personal safety of Hillsdale residents near the camp. 

“I thank you guys for taking that tent down,” he said. “It wasn’t safe.”

DesJardin said the city officials did their jobs by tearing down the structure, but she is disappointed in what she sees as a lack of humanity on the part of city council and staff.

“It’s their job to uphold the ordinances,” DesJardin said. “It’s as plain as day that they pick and choose who they uphold it for.” 

DesJardin said the council favors Share the Warmth, a non-profit warming shelter open nighttimes Nov. 1-April 1 at Sozo Church, which does not have an occupancy permit. The council addressed DesJardin’s assertion of a double standard at its Monday meeting.

“This is an ancillary use of the church consistent with the overall mission and common practices at many churches, even if not advertised,” Thomas said in an email read aloud by city manager David Mackie at the meeting. “This is not a change in the primary use of the building, so no special permits were required.” 

Some of the former residents of Camp Hope said they were temporarily staying in the adjacent storage building set to be converted into HOPE Harbor. 

“I will do my very best to keep them safe,” DesJardin said when asked what comes next for the residents.

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