WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI — Shelters in Washtenaw County saw record high demand from people facing homelessness this past winter. Local shelter officials see that need increasing even more this winter.
The county is also dealing with a reduced building capacity at the Delonis Center, which will limit how many people can stay at the downtown Ann Arbor shelter at a time. Other challenges, according to county officials and service providers, include federal funding instability and an insufficient supply of permanent housing resources.
With those challenges in mind, the county Board of Commissioners is upping its annual allocation to winter sheltering and homeless prevention programs to more than $2.5 million. That is up significantly from the $1 million the county previously allocated…