New Rules Could Impact Michigan’s Homeless Community Significantly

As prices on everything continue to rise, rent continues to get higher; it’s getting harder just to exist in this country.

And for the hundreds of thousands of people who are homeless in Michigan, the Michigan Department of Transportation is proposing new rules that would make it even harder for them to be homeless.

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On Wednesday, October 22, there will be two public hearing sessions at noon and 6 PM, which can be viewed here, where they plan to propose new rules that would make it illegal for people to live in their cars and park vehicles in rest areas and carpool lots for an extended period of time.

The big thing here is that the community‘s voice will make a big difference when it comes to the rules that are being presented, as MLive reported:

The rules would ban panhandling, camping and staying for more than 48 hours on MDOT property. Currently, MDOT lacks official administrative rules to enforce these prohibitions. However, officials say they can impound a vehicle if it hasn’t been moved in three days. MDOT is asking the state’s departmental rulemaking body to allow these new rules.

As mentioned, the voice of the public on the homeless situation and these proposed rules can be submitted by emailing MDOT-PublicComments@Michigan.gov, until the cutoff date of November 20th.

Many people struggle with homelessness and as shelters continue to fill up, at least there are growing options in Southwest Michigan, in case of an emergency situation, as Battle Creek's Share Center has recently announced big news: