Contributed by Campaign to End Homelessness:  www.thecampaigntoendhomelessness.org.

CASS COUNTY (MICH.)-Winter is an especially cruel time to be homeless in Michigan. Community groups and volunteers in Cass County are stepping up to help, but face new challenges to address growing needs with reduced resources.

“There are a lot of health and safety issues. People in our community may be sleeping in cars, or vacant buildings or tents,” said Jenifer Keller, Cass Housing Specialist. “There are people who keep warm with space heaters and put themselves at risk of fires or carbon monoxide poisoning.”

The state’s chief medical executive, Dr. Dean Sienko, warns that bitter cold days can be deadly for those who are inadequately protected from the elements. “Clearly there are dangers, and the homeless are most at risk. Principally, what you are looking at is frostbite, and potentially even worse than that, hypothermia,” explained Sienko. “Literally, you can have frostbite occurring after minutes of exposure to serious temperatures.”

Sienko still remembers treating homeless people who lost fingers or feet because of severe frostbite when he was an intern at a Chicago hospital more than 25 years ago. Hypothermia, which occurs when the body’s core temperature falls below 95 degrees, affects the brain, making victims unable to think clearly or move well.

That’s especially true in winter. Freezing temperatures are the norm in Michigan from November through March. In Cass County , the average low temperature is 17 degrees in January and 19 degrees in February.

Yet, the homeless face not only the problem of a safe place to sleep at night, but finding warm places during the day.

The challenges are growing because of reductions in state and federal assistance to both people in need and agencies that help them. Less money is available to help people pay utility bills, increasing the threat of utility shutoffs. Shorter life-time limits on Family Independence Program benefits will cut off aid to thousands of families, and agencies helping the homeless fear that the recent elimination of a state tax credit for contributions to homeless shelters and food banks will hurt fund-raising.

There are no longer any warming centers or severe weather shelters in Cass County. At one time three different agencies stepped forward to provide severe weather shelter. However, without staff and an inadequate number of volunteers, the agencies were forced to close their doors. “There is a limit to how much more we can do with less,” said Ruth Andrews, of Cass’s Human Services Coordinating Council.

Eric Hufnagel, executive director of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, said that cuts in funding not only weaken the state’s safety net but result in higher costs elsewhere. “If you have people who are not taking care of themselves because they are exposed to the elements, you find more people needing emergency rooms, and there are additional costs that are being shifted, such as to mental health and law enforcement to intervene,” Hufnagel said.

More than 100,000 residents were homeless in Michigan at some time during 2010, including about 69 in Cass County. The Campaign to End Homelessness, which includes more than 600 partner organizations, has ended or prevented homelessness for tens of thousands of Michigan individuals and families but still has a lot of work to do. Service agencies, in more than 60 Continuums of Care, work together to provide people with the services most appropriate for their circumstances. For more information about the Campaign to End Homelessness, visit www.thecampaigntoendhomelessness.org.