TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City leaders are hoping to get rid of the homeless encampment at The Pines if a seasonal shelter gets final approval to become a year-round facility.
Clearing The Pines is contingent on whether city commissioners approve a special use permit that would turn the Safe Harbor homeless shelter into a year-round refuge.
The city, police and community partners say they are confident they have the infrastructure needed so no one will be displaced.
City manager Elizabeth Vogel said community partners have been working as a collective to make sure the 15 to 20 people staying at The Pines will have permanent shelter, whether it’s at the two shelters in town or someplace else.“
The goal has always been housing and shelter solutions. And we all agree, all of our partners, that the Pines are not suitable places for people to live. They may have a plan for shelter. They may have a plan for a diversion. And so we are working with them every day to make sure that they have a place to go. Safe Harbor has, I believe, up to 72 beds. They have been consistently having around 60 to 65 this season,” said Vogel.
Traverse City Police Chief Matt Richmond said three goals came out of that collective.
“One is not to have the Pines in the summer of 2025,” he said. “One is to have a year-round shelter, and that’s through Safe Harbor. And the third is to establish a task force to explore homelessness and housing shortages here within our community,” said Richmond.
Richmond said community police officers and their quick response team, led by their police social workers, have been busy in recent weeks reaching out to make sure the homeless know about the possible enforcement of the ordinance and when it will be enforced. Our intentions are that we’re going to enforce our camping ordinance starting May 6th, depending on the city commission’s vote on May 5,” said Richmond.
One of those resources is the new homeless task force. Ashley Halladay-Schmandt, the person heading it up, said she’s confident Traverse City has the facilities needed to make sure the homeless have a place to go.
“Safe Harbor isn’t our only shelter in the community. We also have the Goodwill Inn. And so...both shelters are working together to make sure that for the folks who do not have, you know, other plans, like maybe housing, or going somewhere else, that we can accommodate them.
Halladay-Schmandt said she knows it’s a big change for some, but it’s in their best interest.
“We know it’s going to be, or it could be, kind of traumatic for the folks living out there. Folks have been, unfortunately, living unsheltered in our community for too long. They’re not good for the people living in them. They’re not good for the community in general.”
Vogel said city commissioners voted on a previous resolution unanimously supporting Safe Harbor and she’s confident they will approve the special use permit.