The unsheltered truth: Youth homelessness in A2

housing in the area.

TARIK FERMIN, MAYA FU, ANJAI NADARAJAH, AND ROWAN GRENIER MANAGING EDITOR,

WEB

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, COPY EDITOR, AND STAFF WRITER

Hidden in plain sight — sometimes you see them in parked cars. Sometimes you see them on park benches. You even see them on the streets of our very own town. Youth homelessness is on the rise.

Established in 1987, the McKinney-Vento Act is a federally funded program that’s main purpose is to assist students and families experiencing homelessness in order to support the students’ education. Each school district, in not only Michigan, but across the entirety of the United States has at least one McKinneyVento representative to manage the distribution of the Act’s resources across the school district to students in need. Alicia Maylone, AAPS’ very own liaison and coordinator for the McKinney-Vento act, has changed the lives and advanced the education of countless youth across the Ann Arbor community. Maylone told The Huron Emery about the most common causes of homelessness that she’s experienced in her time working with AAPS, she said.

“For families experiencing homelessness, there are many underlying circumstances that can lead to having some housing instability,” Maylone said. “An example would be family dynamics. If young people aren’t getting along at home, it can lead to them leaving home or bei ng put out of home.”

There are a wide, diverse range of factors that can contribute to families experiencing homelessness, but many revolve around difficulties with income and lack of affordable

Coach Waleed Samaha has worked at Huron for a long time, but his most recent position has been General Education Social Worker, which consists of working with students who are transitioning to and returning from support programs in the district.

“Is it a bigger issue than we think? Yes,” Samaha said. “Is it adequately resourced? I think in Ann Arbor, we’re very aware. There’s a level of consciousness where we understand every child needs some kind of support, some kids need more, some kids need less. Do I think it’s overlooked? I don’t necessarily think it’s overlooked, it’s kind of like [homelessness] is there and it’s not always as present in our minds.”

According to PayScale, Ann Arbor’s cost of living is not only five percent above the national average, but also 16 percent above the national average for the cost of housing — per 2022 statistics. Ann Arbor is an objectively expensive place to live, and that makes living and maintaining stable housing a more difficult task, let alone supporting a family and children. The pandemic was even more detrimental to those struggling financially, which according to

Maylone skyrocketed the homelessness numbers in our community.

“Especially after the pandemic, families can fall further behind and have difficulty catching up with current inflation and other challenges as well. So it really has become what was already a difficult situation has just really become an even greater challenge for families especially in Washtenaw County, where we have like the 98th highest rental rate, or something like that, in the state,” Maylone said.

With an estimated 2,800 people experiencing homelessness in Washtenaw County, school counselors, social workers and teachers are doing everything they can to help support their situation, whether it be through support programs or a simple helping hand.

“Ann Arbor is a really expensive place to live in,” Samaha said. “So for a lot of times, it’s not like people come to Ann Arbor to seek homeless support or anything like that, it’s not like establishing food insecurity screening and referral programs at primary care providers to ensure that food security is a main social determinant of health.

“It takes all of us to be able to make a difference because it isn’t just about providing food and distributing,”

Grossman said.

“Some people are surprised that there are people facing hunger in Washtenaw County.”

There are also different levels of food insecurity. Sometimes, it might be episodic, where someone might need a food pantry or meal program once a month or once a week.

There are also people who are living paycheck to paycheck and rely on those food pantries or meal programs to fill the gaps, as well as people who rely on them as their main source of food.

“[Food insecurity affects] children, adults, seniors, veterans, students, people who are employed, people who have two jobs, people who don’t have a job,” Grossman said. “So it really isn’t limited to one type of background or situation.”

Food Gatherers also works with children and schools.

“If you’re a student and you haven’t had something to eat that day, you’re going to have a hard time focusing on school,” Grossman said. “Food insecurity can have an effect on your education outcomes.”

Huron Counselor Emily Mashal agrees with this sentiment.

“If your child’s doing a project with somebody, and the person they’re doing the project with is food insecure, that affects everybody,” she said. “We want to make sure that all students are fed.”

In February 2020, Mashal worked in partnership with Food Gatherers to open a food pantry at Huron. It was open for three weeks and then got shut down due to COVID. The food pantry reopened in the spring of 2021.

“What really irked me was that my son, who was in young fives in our public schools, had the same size lunch as our high school students,” Mashal said. “There is no difference in portion size for a five-yearold child versus a high school student.” org. Other ways to help out include working at food drives or other local organizations. If someone is struggling locally with food insecurity, contact Food Gatherers at 734-761-2796 or go to foodgatherers. org/findfood. Additionally, they can call Washtenaw County’s helpline, United Way at 2-1-1. For support in multiple languages, they can call Food Bank Council of Michigan’s helpline at 1-888-544-8773.

Currently, the counselors’ office and the athletics department are the two open locations. In order to access them, students just need to put in their ID number, zip code, and family size in order for Food Gatherers to know how much they need to supply to the pantry.

Food Gatherers puts together specialty boxes, and every month, the pantry has 500 dollars to spend on things such as juice boxes. There are around 500 visits to the pantry a month.

Huron’s Sustainability, Animals, and Veganism (SAV) club also works a little with food insecurity in the community. In the first year of SAV, they conducted a food drive where they donated over 70 items to Food Gatherers. They are also planning to collaborate with the Huron pantry through an in-theworks vertical garden to share fresh vegetables with the community. Around the world, food insecurity is hugely problematic not just because people are struggling in their daily lives. Food insecurity makes it harder for countries to develop as well as to sustain and grow their economies. Food insecurity is also associated with a number of adverse social and health impacts. People who are food insecure are more likely to be impacted by chronic and diet-related diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure, as well as struggle with mental health. According to feedingamerica .org, a lack of healthy food in children can cause delayed development and behavioral problems.

Food insecurity is a prevalent issue, but there are also many ways for people to get involved. People can volunteer at Food Gatherer’s warehouse and at the Community Kitchen, as well as donate funds. For more information, their website is foodgatherers.