LANSING — It’s been nearly a year since men who were homeless began seeking shelter at the new City Rescue Mission headquarters in downtown Lansing.
While there have been obvious graces, like laundry amenities, quilts on the beds and individual shower stalls, Executive Director Randy Barton said the challenges of running the rescue mission, the city’s largest shelter, amid increasing homelessness are just as clear.
The City Rescue Mission of Lansing still needs $3.5 million to complete the $10.6 million project that involved the move from its longtime home on Michigan Avenue to 415 W. Kalamazoo St. And the planned new women’s dorm with 100 beds won’t happen before winter because of an elevator remodel.
“The elevator is original to the building,” Barton said. “It currently works perfectly as intended, but does not meet current codes, and is not upgradable. We learned of the issue during the planning and construction stage, but the length of time we would sit on a waiting list was unforeseen.
“We are pleased that the project is moving forward, slower than we’d like, but still moving.”
The women’s dorm, planned for the top floor of the three-story former office building, will only be for women without children in their care. Once the the new dorm is open and single women’s services are in place on Kalamazoo Street, Barton and other rescue mission leaders hope to to expand the family capacity at the current women and children’s shelter on South Cedar Street.
There are other happenings that could ease the situation for Barton and the several hundred people throughout Ingham County without housing.
A few blocks over, The Nest opened earlier this year at 332 Townsend St. as a 56-bed facility of about a dozen bedrooms prioritizing populations often overlooked by shelter systems, including veterans, single fathers and families with teens.
And by the time the cold arrives, the city of Lansing hopes to officially debut the Nova Lansing Housing Initiative, a pod community where people who are unhoused can find shelter and access to social services.
Barton declined to speak about the pod project but credited the city for strengthening the network of entities working to help people who are unhoused.
“A great thing the city has been doing is the increase in collaboration,” he said. “When I started 13 years ago, everybody was solo. Now, there’s regular meetings with agencies getting together, emailing throughout the week, phone calls throughout the week. The collaborative effort has increased significantly and that’s trending in the right direction.”
The collaboration helps the rescue mission’s new executive director keep to his mission.
“A lot of times (with) public spaces, you’re welcome because you’re a Lansing resident, but you’re not welcome because of your lifestyle or the fact that you’re homeless,” Barton said. “In here they are. Come on through the door and we’re going to do our best to know your name and welcome you in and just treat you with dignity and respect.”
The homeless count for the county averaged about 660 for 2023, 2024 and 2025, according to numbers in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports. The annual street survey counted 847 this year, according to Ingham County Treasurer Alan Fox, who also serves as chair of the Ingham County Housing Trust Fund Board.
Good news, bad news
The City Rescue Mission is a nonprofit Christian ministry that was founded in 1911. It currently operates on a $3.6 million budget.
Mission officials announced in a spring 2024 the purchase of two West Kalamazoo Street buildings to double its capacity. They said they had been operating “beyond capacity for more than a year.”
Leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony in September that same year and Barton said the men’s dorm opened on the lower level of the building in late August 2025, replacing the longstanding men’s shelter on East Michigan Avenue.
Barton said the opening came at a fortuitous time – right before he and other rescue mission leaders found out Holy Cross Services’ New Hope Community Center, at 430 N. Larch St., was shutting down. That naturally meant filling the beds faster than expected.
“The good news is we were able to bring every one in, every person that was being displaced from there had a bed space available for them,” Barton said. “That was the good news. The timing was amazing. (However), that’s been one of the challenges. Just having staffing has been a challenge as well and keeping up with the food demand has been a challenge.”
Barton said he thought the men’s dorm would have available beds for years to come but it’s now sleeping about 175 to 180 people each night. Along with folks who visit the drop-in center and drop in for dinner, the City Rescue Mission of Lansing is challenged to feed about 225 people per dinner.
Every evening meal requires, for example, more than 100 15-ounce cans of vegetables, 60 pounds of ground beef, 34 16-ounce boxes of pasta, and 30 pounds of dry rice, said Laura Grimwood, the rescue mission’s senior director of community engagement. A typical breakfast requires 18 boxes of cereal and 16 gallons of milk.
“It’s not just shelter beds being filled, but the food that’s required to feed those individuals that’s left our pantry on rock bottom,” Barton said, also noting the need for items like deodorant, shampoo, conditioner and bodywash. “It’s a lot of demand to keep up with. We’re just waiting on donations to come in because the guest base increased far quicker than anything else.
“When I began about 13 years ago, I think we had a total of 42 beds, and they were not full. So we’ve seen that growth. What we’ve not seen is the growth at the level that we have in the last year, year and a half.”
A game changer
At the rescue mission’s new headquarters, clean and private showers, fewer worries about theft and an overnight drop-in center for those who just want to sit at a table for a bit are some of the features Barton hears raves about. Barton said the drop-in center is a rarity in the state.
Day shelter also is provided.
“It’s far more modern,” Barton said of the new location. “Our laundry facility is fantastic. Anybody that’s staying in shelter has ample opportunity to do laundry.
“At Michigan Avenue, we didn’t have a day shelter. Now we do. If we had 175 men with us last night in shelter, we have 175 people that we’re offering day shelter to. That’s been a game changer as well for our guests. They really appreciated a place where they can go that they are welcome.”
To learn more about the rescue mission, visit BEaRESCUER.org or call 517-485-0145.
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: City Rescue Mission’s new shelter saw rapid rise in use in last year
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
