“We’ve been applying and applying and applying,” said Shawn Croft on Tuesday, standing outside a tent where he and a friend are living at the fairgrounds until they can find available housing.

Croft, a senior at ACES Academy in Alpena, moved to the campground about a week ago, but Croft and his father, currently living at the Sunrise Mission homeless shelter in Alpena, have been trying for months to find a two-bedroom apartment, with no success.

The two are not alone in their search.

More than 100 people in the Alpena area currently don’t have a home, reported Victoria Purvis, homeless & prevention director for the Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Seen through the smoke of a campfire, Shawn Croft on Tuesday displays the head of an Atlantic salmon he caught for his dinner while living at the Alpena County Fairgrounds as he tries to find available housing in Alpena.

Local leaders since January have been putting their heads together to combat the housing shortage that landed multiple families at the fairgrounds this summer because they couldn’t find any place to live.

Some housing help is available now, but lasting fixes could take years to materialize, officials said.

Tents in a campground in the middle of Alpena bring homelessness front and center, but the issue is not new to the area — just more prominent because of the housing crisis making it more visible, Purvis said.

“They’ve always been there,” she said. “We just haven’t seen them.”

On Tuesday morning, the remains of the previous night’s dinner — an Atlantic salmon Croft caught in the Thunder Bay River and cooked over a fire — lay on a picnic table as Croft described the frustration of living without a home.

He and his father came to Alpena several months ago after having to leave a home elsewhere.

Since then, they’ve applied everywhere, but they can’t find a vacancy, Croft said.

He rides his bike to school and has tried to get a job but, he said, employers won’t hire him for the mechanic job he wants, though he has some experience.

Meanwhile, his dad keeps submitting applications, he said.

“There’s nothing. We’re having no luck,” said Croft, who said he and his friend might move to a different campground if they don’t find available housing as colder weather sets in.

At least eight households lived at the fairgrounds campground this summer because they couldn’t find housing elsewhere.

NEMCSA connected six of them with housing, while two individuals known to the agency still live at the fairground.

Of the 106 people currently on NEMCSA’s list of people who reported homelessness, drawn from the agency’s 11-county coverage area, at least one homeless household currently lives in every campground in Alpena County, with more finding shelter on state land, Purvis said.

Despite stereotypes, Northeast Michigan people without homes often have no history of substance abuse, mental illness, or a criminal record. Many lost their homes because a landlord died or sold rental property, forcing the resident out with no place to go, she said.

More often than not, Purvis said, people looking for homes have steady jobs and are able to pay rent but are thwarted by a lack of housing stock.

Any vacant unit posted online is snapped up within hours, hardly making a dent in NEMCSA’s waiting list.

Scammers promising rentals that don’t exist to people willing to pay up front make things worse by cutting into the savings of those who do face financial hardship.

The Sunrise Mission, one of few shelters in northern Michigan, often can’t take people because the shelter is full or the person applying doesn’t qualify, Purvis said.

To fight homelessness by keeping as many people in their homes as possible, Habitat for Humanity workers are scheduled to perform more than 175 repairs in Alpena-area homes, said Ted Fines, executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Northeast Michigan.

Habitat is trying to build two new homes in the Alpena area, but a skyrocketed cost of construction makes that difficult and will deter developers considering such builds in the near future, he said.

If Alpena wants to grow — and to protect its residents who are forced to live in tents — it needs to figure out what is causing the local housing crunch and find a long-term solution, Fines said.

Hoping to find that fix, a work group headed by Alpena City Manager Rachel Smolinski has met monthly since January, evaluating the barriers that stand in the way of an adequate housing supply.

Representatives of numerous governments, businesses, schools, developers, agencies, and others on the task force have identified some of the steps needed to make new housing feasible.

The first step is addressing a lack of data with which to make solid decisions for the region, Smolinski said.

An assessment of housing needs to be conducted by an outside consultant before spring will give planners legs from which to launch an aggressive attack on the housing crisis, Smolinski said.

City leaders will, among other steps, review ordinances to make housing development more attainable and figure out how to keep rents and mortgages affordable for working-class people, she said.

The thought of homeless and struggling people in tents in Alpena is a powerful motivator, Smolinski said.

“It’s going to take a lot of people, and it’s going to take some time,” she said. “But we’re definitely going to put as much effort as we can into this initiative.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

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