A new shelter for unhoused families in Kalamazoo County will accept its first residents Monday.
The Landing Place will shelter about 70 unhoused families for varying amounts of time before they are able to find permanent housing.
More than 250 families are already on the waiting list to get a unit in the converted hotel, according to Kalamazoo County spokesperson Taylor Koopman.
Cheryl Schuch is the CEO of Family Promise, the national non-profit that will operate the Landing Place.
She said unlike other similar shelters, there’s no hard date for when residents have to leave to make room for other families.
“Some families might exit in two weeks with housing and some it might take months. The important part for us is it's not about everybody doing it in 60 days or 90 days. It's about doing it right.”
In addition to shelter, residents will also receive two meals a day and free laundry, along with services including housing-focused case management and access to job training.
“We know that families are going to move out of this facility into permanent housing and new families are going to face struggle and need to have this facility to land in, for lack of a better word,” Kalamazoo County Deputy Housing Director Willa DiTaranto said.
Kalamazoo County Commissioner Jen Strebs attended a preview of the facility on Wednesday. She suggested the facility would benefit the local economy by making it possible for residents to attend work and school more regularly.
"They can then become folks that can meaningfully pursue their own education who become more stable and dependable co-workers at their jobs that can move forward and develop small businesses," she said.
Strebs added that the Landing Place won't just help unhoused parents, but will also impact the future of their children.
"Long-term, the outcomes for the children that are going to get stabilized and move into permanent housing, think about the impact that has on their educational outcomes," Strebs said.
“The long-term likelihood that they end up interacting with the criminal justice system — we spend so much money upstream on the problems that occur from mental health concerns to incarceration and when we can invest early in young people and make a difference for them now before things are broken apart, that's a huge benefit for the community.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility is planned for 11 am Thursday.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
