From the Chairperson:

Another year has flown by and even with all the challenges this community faces supporting homelessness, Dann’s House continues to provide permanent housing to a population that is often forgotten, homeless men diagnosed with chronic alcohol use disorder. The hands-on and daily operations mostly comes from our dedicated volunteer board of directors and a small group of caring volunteers who help keep our guys feed, engaged and motivated. All this happens on a shoe-string budget.

We have mostly had a good year at the house. Through the caring support of volunteers, case management services through Northern Michigan Supportive Housing and the daily support our guys receive from our one staff person, our men are doing well and are treated with respect as we manage a better and safer environment for them outside of the Pines.

The biggest challenge we face is funding this important program. As some may have heard, Dann’s House has lost its major funding resource. Half our budget was derived from Michigan Alcohol tax revenues. The state allocates a percentage of the tax collected on alcohol sales to be distributed to each county. Fifty percent of those funds are to be used for substance abuse programing. Dann’s House has always been a good use of these funds but now our successful housing first harm reduction program has been squeezed out. We are not happy about that but we will continue to soldier on the best we can.

We are currently in the process of onboarding a few new tenants as rooms are made available. It’s important this time of year to think about all those who are less fortunate and who may be housing challenged. I receive calls weekly from folks looking for housing but we just don’t have enough beds to house the growing population or for those that truly need one.

If you know someone that is homeless, please suggest they first call the NW Michigan Community Action Agency at 844-900-0500 to get plug into the housing system. The wait list for housing is long but individuals must call to be placed on the list for available housing opportunities.

In the meantime Safe Harbor on Wellington Street (downtown) is now open and people in need can find a warm bed at night and a place to be fed and clean up. We are lucky that locally we have so many good people volunteering to help the unhoused. A collaborative effort is being made to support housing people in need and the first priority should be to house those that are living on the streets (the Pines) and who need housing the most.

Please read through our website for more information about our program. Dann’s House not only needs financial support but donations of house hold items to help our guys with daily needs (see our Wish List). We are in dire need of a newer late model mini van/station wagon style vehicle as our trusty old van is on its last legs. This vehicle is used to transport the guys to appointments and to get daily supplies. If you would like to donate (tax-deductible) a vehicle, we would greatly appreciate this. We also welcome those who would like to join our board to help manage this important organization.

And finally I want to thank our dedicated board members (past and present) for helping to keep this program alive. I also want to thank our volunteers and our past and current staff members for showing their compassion for our great group of guys living at the house. We could not do this work without the supportive nature of everyone in our UpNorth caring community.

Please remember the unhoused and keep in mind that many people suffering from Alcohol Use Disorder need our help, which is why we at Dann’s House do what we do.

Best Wishes to everyone this Holiday Season and may everyone have a Happy New Year in 2025!

Jim Carruthers
Chair, Dann’s House Board of Directors