GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A stack of science fiction DVDs taller than the television. A wall's worth of African-themed decor. Stereos on top of receivers on top of stereos.
In Carolyn Baker's new, Grand Rapids apartment, there's a well-curated, eclectic collection in every corner of the living room, but its most valuable piece is a standalone item. A framed receipt for Baker's first rent payment.
For the past year, Baker has called the Diamond Place apartments home. She moved here after spending ten months at Dégagé Ministries, a women's shelter in Grand Rapids.
"I never thought I would be able relate to someone being homeless," Baker said. "Then you're there, and you're like, 'Wow.'"
When her husband passed away from cancer more than a year ago, she had no where else to go, and going wasn't easy.
"That was one of the scariest and biggest decisions I ever made," she said. "But it was one of the best decisions I ever made."
Baker got a job at Dégagé and then got into a program to help her find a place of her own. Her new digs at Diamond Place came paired with a case manager who helped her with paperwork and vouchers.
"They helped me in ways that I couldn't, at that time, help myself," she said.
Baker's success story is one of many in the Grand Rapids area supported by 100 in 100 in Kent County.
While the campaign to house a hundred people dealing with chronic homelessness in as many days ended nearly a year ago, the work has continued. Since it began last fall, more than 180 people have been housed by way of 100 in 100. Last month, it also won an award at a conference for the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).
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"Here we sit a year later, and it's been a success," said Thelma Ensink, executive director of Dégagé Ministries. "There have been so many barriers we've identified. There have been so many small problems we've learned how to solve."
Ensink says flexible funding for people moving out of homelessness has been helpful for paying their first month's rent and application fees. An additional round of funding from Network 180, a Grand Rapids mental health service, recently allowed the program to add two more case managers and a 'landlord liason' position may soon be created to connect apartment buildings with nonprofits and potential renters.
"It costs us so much less to have somebody be housed and be able to care for themselves than it is to have them in shelter or on our streets," Ensink said.
Now, 100 in 100 has shifted its focus to reaching functional zero for people in Kent County who are chronically homeless, a term that refers to when a community has the resources to ensure that periods of homelessness are rare, brief and non-recurring. Thus far, Ensink says only 3% of those housed through the program have returned to homelessness, compared to the national average of 17%.
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"I think it's clear that the work is going to continue, that we're going to stay committed to this," she said.
The work will continue and Baker will attest to its success from the comfort of her own apartment.
"If you're scared about going to the shelter, don't be, because they help you," she said. "I was really scared to go, but, like I said, it was the best thing I ever did."
