Kent County coalition attempting to house 100 homeless people in 100 days

The title says it best.

Beginning in September, the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness and its county partners will attempt to find permanent housing for 100 chronically unhoused people in as many days.

On Thursday, the coalition announced the 100 in 100 in Kent County campaign at Ryerson Library in downtown Grand Rapids, sharing the second-floor auditorium stage with a number of local nonprofits.

"We do know their names. We do know their faces. We have relationships with them," said Adrienne Goodstal, president of Mel Trotter Ministries. "Boy, how can we care — literally — for those out on the streets that people have truly given up on and have forgotten?"

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While a new initiative, Goodstal and others have been working behind the scenes for a while, putting together a list of "the most vulnerable in our community," including many with mental illness or addictions.

These chronically unhoused people, Goodstal says, are part of a growing population in the county. Last year, Mel Trotter Ministries served 5,500 people, an 11-percent increase from the previous year.

She noted, though, that chronically unhoused people are "a very small percentage" of those who come through the nonprofit's open doors.

"It's a very audacious goal," Goodstal said. "But we really do feel confident that, with these partners, we're going to be able to do it."

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In addition to Mel Trotter and the Grand Rapids Coalition to End Homelessness, Dégagé Ministries, Trillium Investments, Catherine’s Health Center, Dwelling Place and more are part of the initiative.

"There's angels amongst the living, but we've got to believe in ourselves and sometimes it takes others to help us," said Bri Kendricks, a new resident at Dégagé's Heartside Landings.

During the afternoon press conference, Kendricks shared her story.

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In 2017, a "crisis" in her life left the woman without a place to stay. She turned to Dégagé's shelter for help. For years, she called it home. In recent months, however, doctors found a tumor in her neck. Kendricks needed not only surgery but more permanent housing to have it done.

Heartside Landings, a transitional housing program, stepped in.

"I guess I'm one of those never-ending rainbows that's standing here right now," said Kendricks, whose surgery went well. "We are a family down here at Heartside. We are changing lives and saving lives."

Through 100 in 100 in Kent County, Dégagé and other local groups want to write similar stories, a hundred more of them, to be specific.

"If any city can do it, we can," said Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, speaking on the area's spirit of "volunteerism." "We need to be able to step up and make sure we have a safe place for them."

The 100 in 100 initiative will officially begin on Sept. 1.

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