LANSING — It took a no trespassing notice to trigger police involvement to get a homeless camp cleared from a vacant, 6-acre south Lansing lot owned by the Robinson Memorial Church of God in Christ, a congregation involved in a long tax dispute with the city of Lansing,
Homeless advocates said Lansing police over the weekend cleared people were living outdoors on property owned by two churches, Robinson Memorial’s property on Perry Robinson Circle, near Jolly Road and Cedar Street, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing on south Pennsylvania Avenue.
Scott Bean, the city’s spokesman, confirmed the two churches completed the proper documentation to generate no trespassing notices that the Lansing Police Department delivered and, “under law,” was required to act upon. Officers told the camp residents they had to leave, Bean said.
The Rev. Michael West leads the Robinson Memorial Church which has its house of worship in Lansing Township but also owns the vacant 6-acre lot.
While he’s compassionate toward the residents and upset about homelessness in the city, he’s also been frustrated about the trash accumulation that happens whenever people looking for a place to camp take refuge on the church’s lot.
“We had to get it cleaned up,” West said of the longstanding problem. “One of the demands from the city was that we would help clean it up and put no trespassing signs up.”
Signs were on the property as recently as late March, but church officials said they weren’t working at the time when West held a news conference asking for the city’s help.
“All we’ve done is gone through the proper channels,” West said. “The proper channels said that you have to have a letter with the city police to let them know that they need to go on and be able to tell people to get off the property.
“There’s a standard letter that you get from the city police that you fill out and you give it to them. We just followed the procedure that the city instructed us to follow to rectify the problem that we were having.”
West said cleaning the property will require thousands of dollars, and Bean said the church would have to take responsibility for the trash.
“The property owner is responsible for cleaning the property,” Bean said in an email. “With a Trespass Notice in place, the City continues to encourage them to call LPD if any individuals are found on the property and LPD will enforce the trespass and remove them.”
West and his neighbors have been asking for the city’s help while the church remains embroiled in a tax dispute with the city because of its Perry Robinson Circle lot.
The property in question is the subject of a foreclosure action. The church sued after the city put the parcel back on the tax rolls several years ago, claiming the city violated its due process rights.
Because of the litigation, the church hasn’t been able to sell the property, and it can’t afford to keep cleaning it up like it did last fall, when it hauled out a large volume of trash, West said in March. He has called on the city to resolve the litigation over the property’s tax-exempt status and to work to address problems at the site.
Homeless advocates remain unhappy with the support services available in the region, saying the Perry Robinson Circle camp had shrunk to approximately 10 people but now they have nowhere else to go.
“The housing landscape here and getting people assistance is not great,” said Kelsea Hector, executive director of Punks With Lunch, which stepped in to help people living in a homeless camp near Dietrich Park when the city sued property owners last year to break up the camp and have the wooded properties cleared of debris and people.
She belongs to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing, and criticized on May 10 the church’s decision to request the no trespassing notice and police involvement.
“When we talk about liability, about human lives, what are we even here for? What are we doing?” she asked, inspiring some applause from a group gathered. “There was real harm that was done.”
During the same presentation, church board member Ralph Putnam noted increased safety concerns and vandalism on the property and surrounding businesses led to the church requesting the no trespass order.
Yet he credited Hector for “rightfully” calling out the church for its decision, “clearly at odds with our UU values and our espousing of radical hospitality.”
“Our attempts to engage the Lansing PD Social Work Unit to provide assistance to our unhoused neighbors have gone unanswered since early April,” the church’s board President Jennifer Blum said in a statement. “Since asking LPD to issue a vacate order, the congregation has become more deeply aware of the complexities around homelessness in Lansing and is looking for ways to respond that reflect the congregation’s values, including the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”
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: Lansing police clear 2 camps for homeless after churches ask for help
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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