Another false solution is being proposed on ending homelessness by a Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce initiative

Both MLive and Crain’s Grand Rapids Business posted articles about an announcement  from the people who started the house 100 individuals in 100 days campaign in 2024.

The Crain’s story headline is claiming this is a GR Chamber of Commerce campaign, even though they are working directly with the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness and local service providers. In the first paragraph of the Crain’s article it says, the targeted goal is to end homelessness downtown this year. Of course this is the goal, as the GR Chamber of Commerce and the business interests in downtown Grand Rapids believe that their ability to make profits is being threatened by unhoused people tend to be downtown during the day. Remember, the GR Chamber of Commerce proposed an ordinance in 2022 to criminalize the unhoused, which the City of Grand Rapids adopted in 2023.

In fact, the government affairs staff member at the GR Chamber of Commerce, Josh Lunger, was calling for an increase in GRPD cops, since unhoused people were a threat to the safety and commerce of the people and businesses in downtown Grand Rapids.

This new initiative is called the Downtown Pathways Project. The Crain’s article then states:

Downtown Pathways partners hope to create a smart homeless response system, build a safe and welcoming downtown, connect stakeholders with clear roles and provide transparency throughout the process, said Ryan Kilpatrick, founder and CEO of Flywheel Community Development. 

The only action I could find from this new initiative is to secure $100,000 in funding to conduct a fair market rent study. I’m not sure what another study will find, but it seems that someone will be getting paid to conduct the study. I’m also not sure why we need another study about the cost of rent in this city, since the National Low Income Housing Coalition has already provided us with the average cost of rent per zip code in Grand Rapids. For example, in the 49503 area people would have to make $27.88 an hour to afford the average cost of rent in that zip code.

Ryan Kilpatrick, the founder and CEO of Flywheel Community Development Services, is quoted in the MLive article, stating:

“What’s happening right now in Grand Rapids is the payment standard for rent from a federal housing voucher is lower than what rent actually costs. So what we need to be able to do is communicate with HUD that there’s a difference between what they’re willing to pay and what rent actually costs.”

It is important to note that Kilpatrick also works for Housing Next, which is a GR Chamber of Commerce create housing entity that push market based solutions to housing, plus he works for the DeVos Family Foundation and their Facing Home Initiative.

Regarding the point that Kilpatrick makes about HUD, to be clear he is suggesting that HUD needs to increase the amount of funding for housing vouchers. While this might seem like a compassionate response, the best thing that this new initiative could do would be to advocate that people living in Grand Rapids earn a living wage. If the average cost of rent would require that people make $27.88 an hour, then a living wage would be closer to $40 an hour.

The Downtown Pathways Project partners would not endorse paying people a living wage, despite the fact that this would be the most effective strategy within a market based housing system. Paying people wages that will allow them to afford the cost of housing would be a real solution, not a false one, like what this group is offering.

Having the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce partner with the Coalition to End Homelessness will always result in false solutions. The GR Chamber of Commerce, like all Chambers of Commerce has over the past century opposed an increase in the minimum wage, has opposed organized labor efforts to defend the interests of workers, has fought to privatize government services and always puts business interests above public interests. The Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article nor the post from MLive even bother to address whether or not the Downtown Pathways Project is working towards the most effective strategies.