(Community Matters 190) Run-Up to Roofsit 2: Helping Remove Obstacles That Lead to Homelessness

This is the second in a series of interviews shedding light on The Haven of Rest's mission and programs ahead of its annual Roofsit fundraiser. The Haven marks its 70th anniversary in 2026.

A lot of people talk about homelessness like it’s a single problem with a simple fix. Daniel Jones, Executive Director of the Haven of Rest in Battle Creek, talks about what’s really happening on the ground: homelessness is often the symptom of something deeper

Episode Resources

The Haven of Rest Ministries Website

ABOUT COMMUNITY MATTERS
Former WBCK Morning Show host Richard Piet (2014-2017) returns to host Community Matters, an interview program focused on community leaders and newsmakers in and around Battle Creek. Community Matters is heard Saturdays, 8:00 AM Eastern on WBCK-FM (95.3) and anytime at battlecreekpodcast.com.

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Transcript

Welcome And Roof Sit Preview

Richard Piet 0:02

Thanks for being with us on Community Matters Saturdays at 95.3 FM. Bright and early in the eight o'clock hour. Grab your coffee, tea, whatever it is, and sit down with us. Or do that on another day at Battle Creek Podcast.com or go where you get podcasts and search Community Matters Calhoun County. Follow us that way, and you can listen right on your devices. It has been 70 years since the Haven of Rest opened its doors in Battle Creek, as they say, to give hope to the unsheltered in our community. And in just a few weeks, one of the signature events, a very important event for the Haven, takes place on the roof at Sunshine Toyota on the 12th and 13th of June. It's Roof Set. This is a very important event for the future and continuing mission of the Haven of Rest. And we're spending a few weeks checking in with the Haven ahead of the big event on the 12th and 13th. Daniel Jones is the executive director at the Haven, and he joins us today. Hello, Daniel.

Daniel Jones 1:14

Good morning, Richard. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.

Richard Piet 1:18

Well, thank you. How long have you been in the top spot now? Is it 10 years?

Daniel Jones 1:23

I am nine years this summer, but I've been at the Haven for 16 years now. Uh the first seven years as the fundraising person here.

From Mom And Pop To Accredited

Richard Piet 1:32

When you look back on that time, how does it compare now to the years gone by?

Daniel Jones 1:41

You know, there's been significant change. The level of professionalism that we have going on here at the Haven has upgraded. We have gone into nationally accredited, kind of medically supervised care for the people, especially in our substance abuse treatment programs, and just upgraded a lot of the way that we do things around here. So day to day, it's kind of night and day from when I started 16 years ago. And that's a good thing, very good thing.

Richard Piet 2:12

Yeah, right. Level up, I guess, is the phrase.

Daniel Jones 2:16

Yeah, you have to.

Richard Piet 2:17

What does that national accreditation do for you? Uh I think we can infer what it does for the folks whom you help, but what does it really mean overall?

Daniel Jones 2:28

You know, it's really if I simplified it a little bit, it it takes us from being kind of a mom and pop operation, which 70 years ago, the families that started us were literally mom and pop. Yeah, yeah. To you know, a clinically supervised, medically accredited, kind of a you know, very professional service orientation here. It really improves the way that we can deliver services to people and the results that we measure that come out of those kind of services. You know, I'm not sure we used to measure things like how long people stayed on average, or if they left us, did they come back to us? Or if they left us, where were they going? Were they going to a permanent supported housing situation and independence? Or were they just going to somebody's couch somewhere? So upgrading those kind of metrics and data management and things like that, it's all part of becoming a much more professional organization. And so hats off to uh you and yours uh for having done that and being able to look back on it and say, look at the progress we've made. Is it fair to presume then that this is a challenge for people and will be for the foreseeable future?

Homelessness As A Symptom

Richard Piet 3:49

And it's our job to try and help those folks, and we're not going to put ourselves out of business.

Daniel Jones 3:57

I would love to be out of business, but the people who are in the grips of homelessness that come to us, they're in the grips of some serious problems. And I always say when I'm speaking in public, homelessness isn't the problem. That's the symptom that somebody's got something really wrong going on in their life. And it can be a factor like substance abuse or a mental health challenge or lack of abilities and capabilities or mental health challenges. It's just you could have anything in combination, physical disabilities, even. And if you get three or four of those things kind of happening at once and generational poverty, you're going to come see me here at the Haven sooner or later. So, you know, all of those things we have to address people's needs. If they have a substance abuse issue, we can get them help. If they have a mental health challenge, we can connect them to services in the community that are, you know, really there to improve mental health. And if it's it's anything else, I give all the credit in the world to our case managers who do on a case-by-case basis uh take care of the people and get them connected to what they need to address the underlying problem that's causing the homelessness.

Case Managers And Fast Assessments

Daniel Jones 5:15

Yeah, so that's uh just what I was going to bring up. The idea that you meet someone and it's now the job of the case managers and the folks with whom they work to make an assessment. And I imagine quickly so identify what those root causes are and start getting folks in the direction of support. That is exactly their job. And we have case managers here that have got you know 15 or 20, 25 years of experience. They've been uh around forever, which is excellent. They have community connections that are just exactly what we need. They've got the landlords on speed dial, they've got employment opportunities, they've got other agencies that provide things like mental health support or housing support or assistance. All of those folks are on speed dial with our case managers. And having been around that long, you know, just the agencies in town all know us and trust us, and our case managers are doing the best they can for the people we get. So those people, and I've got half a dozen case managers here, they are super effective. Um, and that's one of the strengths of the Haven, really, truly, is having those case managers on site to be able to help. And people do meet with them within 72 hours of coming in, right? If somebody came in Friday afternoon, we would be meeting with them Monday morning. That's the longest somebody would go. But if they came in Monday, you're gonna get sat down Tuesday and we're gonna start talking. What's causing the issues here?

Richard Piet 6:47

Yeah, I imagine most of the folks you meet are ready to have that interaction, right? They've reached the level of exhaustion or inability to solve the problem that they need the support you're offering. So maybe 72 hours, uh, they might be kind of tapping their foot saying, Come on, when when are we going to talk about this? Is that true?

Daniel Jones 7:13

Yeah, that's true. Um, they really are ready to have that conversation. And and many folks who are reaching out have exhausted their own capabilities. You're right. They've tried everything, they've worked with relationships and families and burned their bridges and done whatever they could. Really, they reach you at a point of exhaustion where, okay, I kind of need this help. I know I'm in a spot, I need to reach out. And we make it as welcoming as we can around here. It truly is. Everything is painted in warm colors, it smells good, the food is good. You know, those are the basics that you have to have to meet people. And once we've stabilized with a little bit of those basic needs, like, okay, this is a good place, you're safe here, here's a good meal, and they're surrounded by warm, caring adults, even the children kind of appreciate right at that point that we know we're in a good place. Okay, how can you help me? And we've seen some amazing turnaround stories. If people want to work with our case managers and work with the programs that we're offering, and work with they they can turn things around in a matter of weeks, which is not long when you think about it. Give somebody 60 days or something like that, they can really turn things around.

30 Days Versus 90 Days Progress

Richard Piet 8:29

And that's the target, right? You you want to try to make some kind of progress within 60 days.

Daniel Jones 8:34

We do. Our general uh rule is somebody can stay here 30 days if they're really not even participating or doing anything, which is not what we want to see. But 30 days, okay, you know, you you know better than we do, I guess, that you know what you need. If they are working with our case managers, though, and doing the things the case manager assigns them to do every day, like look for housing or look for employment, or even basics like get an ID or birth certificate. If they're doing those things and working with our case manager, we'll extend that stay 60 days if we need to go to 90 days. You can make a lot of progress in your world in 90 days if you're really working at it and somebody's helping you. Yeah.

Working While Homeless

Richard Piet 9:18

I would imagine, well, first of all, we hear quite a bit about the notion of folks who work and maybe even work full-time, but can't get a living situation together. Are you seeing that?

Daniel Jones 9:34

A little bit. I mean, that's a constant flow of people in that situation that are employed just because housing has become so expensive. Maybe they had, you know, an issue where they had to choose between some medical expenses or uh even you know the question of the basics like food or supplying something for their children and paying rent. And they chose, you know, other than pay rent, and now they get an eviction and they're here with us, even though they're still employed. So that's where we work with getting the assistance and some housing assistance, and neighborhoods Inc. is a great partner for that. Community action is a great partner. Uh, they do have programs for assistance for rent to keep people in their homes. And so great partners. And yeah, that's exactly where we start to work. And we've seen more of that of employed yet homeless. One of the things we do if somebody is not employed here is try and help them find work. And we've got employers ready to hire people at you know decent wages, really good wages, and we get them employed and they save a few weeks' worth of paychecks. And now we can also talk about assistance to down payments or security deposits for places to live. Uh, it's a good system, and we've developed it over the years.

Richard Piet 10:52

So this is uh what we're talking about when the roof set happens in support of the Haven, you're you're focused on the services to which we've uh implied here and uh more that we haven't even gotten to. But the basis of all this, right, is uh helping your neighbor and the uh the opportunities we have to do so, folks around our community who are in need, and Daniel and his team are on the front line there trying to help sort through folks' root causes and help them get back into a stable uh situation.

Funding Shock And Medicaid Pivot

Richard Piet 11:31

You know, Daniel, when last we spoke last fall and summer, for a while there, you were sounding an alarm about some of the programs and the funding and the difficulties that had reached a new level, it seemed. Paint the picture now. Where are you today?

Daniel Jones 11:47

Boy, um back in September, actually July of 2025, uh, we we lost a grant uh through a federal government source that was supporting our men's life recovery program. And we have two of those, right? And life recovery is addiction recovery. It's a support program that goes on for 12 months. And uh that's very unusual for the length and duration of that kind of a program. Usually they're about 28 days. So in one year, we really get our arms around people for substance abuse treatment. They get clean and sober, uh, the brain chemicals kind of equalize, and you start a different kind of a cognitive behavioral therapy. Uh again, coming back around to being medically supervised and credentialed. We've got therapists on staff who are really dealing with, you know, the the questions, what are you trying to drown with drugs and alcohol? Uh, you know, and that's leading to homelessness. So those programs are incredibly expensive, but to get somebody turned around from an addiction, it's going to take some time and it's going to take some money. Uh, it's cheaper than incarceration, even though the programs are extremely expensive. It's cheaper than throwing somebody in jail for a year.

Richard Piet 13:02

That doesn't address the addiction problem.

Daniel Jones 13:05

Yep. True story. It's just warehouse people. With regard to our funding situation back in July, we lost a grant for the men's program that kind of put the both the programs in jeopardy. And I told our staff, I'm going to go out to fundraise, and you're going to hear me say these programs are at risk. That's the reality of it. And we needed about a $300,000 number to keep those programs afloat. Um, that has, I think the community stepped up in in wonderful ways with that regard. We had uh the community foundation and a health fund that was there, uh Battle Creek Community Health Partners stepping up in incredible ways and really showing that they do value these programs. Uh, we found some other support from the county's opioid settlement money. And uh our county uh commissioners voted to support the Haven's grant application to that fund and uh and give us some room and give us some funding to basically build our capacity again, focused on a Medicaid certified or medical supervised, clinically approved uh program, plural programs, so that we could build Medicaid for our services. And and that's a whole different level of professionalism and oversight and medical supervision. So we're there in December of 2025. We achieved an accreditation through the internationally recognized organization called CARF, which is an acronym for rehabilitation facilities accreditation. We've gotten our contracts in front of our board this month to look at Medicaid billing, and we're approved to do that. And that opens up a whole different revenue stream for us. So we pivoted a little bit from our funding. Uh, we did find new sources. I want to say there's there's a couple other places that we've gone, half a dozen places we've gone for funding that we've applied to now that we've achieved that accreditation. And so, you know, we're not as reliant on single donors anymore. We want a diversified funding group, and that's all nonprofits across the United States are doing the same thing. We're no different than anybody else. But I think we've been very successful in taking those funding opportunities, capitalizing on them, getting those accreditations, and now being in position to win some serious-sized grants to support us. And that's great. I mean, that's sustainability funding, and that's the holy grail in nonprofit world, right? It's something that happens every year. Fee for service Medicaid billing is is a huge avenue for us. And so we're we're pushing forward on that really well, and and our team has done that amazing.

Richard Piet 15:51

Well, congratulations on um on the ability to do that, identifying what you had to do to get that accreditation and going and getting it. Yep. I would note that doesn't eliminate the roofsit event.

Why Roof Sit Funds Inasmuch House

Daniel Jones 16:06

No, it does not. I mean, those are substance abuse treatment programs. They were kind of taking down the lion's share of unrestricted donations here at the Haven. Roofsit is very focused as a fundraiser on the Inasmuch House. So it's not necessarily involved in these substance abuse treatment programs. If we look back around to what Roofsit is, it really does come in to pay some of the bills for Inas Much House. And that's you know, several hundred thousand dollars a year to maintain a space for 38 people. We've got 38 beds in Inas Much House, and we housed, you know, over 500 people last year. That's men, women, and children. It's just a busy, busy place, especially with the kids making noise and uh having fun over there. It's a good place, though, and I think it deserves the community's support. And I I have no doubts in my mind that our community does support in as much house as our provider of family shelter services. And we're the only one in Calhoun County, men, women, and children, mom and dad with kids, dad with kids, mom with kids, single women. It's just a family shelter that's a good place and very busy. So this fundraiser pays some of the bills, keeps the lights on and the keeps the heat on in the winter and the cooling in the summer. And even though it's a very energy efficient building and built well, still costs a lot of money to run it. So we rely on our donors to help in as much out with the ref set.

Richard Piet 17:32

Well, if you didn't hear it last week when we talked with Lisa Foley, who oversees operations at In AsMuch, 199 children in 2025 at In As Much House. She had that number right in front of her. By the way, you can hear that if you want to hear voices from the front at Inas Much House. There's Lisa at Battle Creek Podcast.com. So you're not kidding, when we're talking about the numbers of folks whom you're helping and the contingent of them that are children.

Daniel Jones 18:03

Some people say, doesn't it make you sad to see children in a homeless shelter? To me, no, it does not. This is probably the best place for a family going through homelessness. Yeah, the kids are not on a couch of somebody who may not have their best interests at heart. They're not in a parking lot at Walmart, sleeping in a car. They're surrounded by warm beds, warm blankets, warm food, and caring adults. This is the best possible place for a family going through that situation. And so when I see the kids here, they're happy. They're they're usually very entertained and well grateful for everything that's being done for them. They just love it. We even have some educational support programs for the kids that get here. We recognize that some of the trauma that they've gone through does not help their educational achievements. So we try and get them back up to speed academically while they're here. And even after they've left the shelter, we kind of keep them for about a year in our programs for educational support and really help the kid move forward in grades. And those are very successful programs.

Richard Piet 19:06

Well, there you are. So this paints a picture, folks, of what's happening at the Haven in As Much House and how you can support the organization in these endeavors.

Donation Goal And Recurring Giving

Richard Piet 19:17

All right, Daniel, how much do we need?

Daniel Jones 19:20

Uh, we're trying to raise 60,000 this year. That's the number I put in the budget. Um, we've we've done more in the past. So anybody, every little bit helps. Any donation helps. And if people go to our website, which is thehavenbc.org, they can sign up. And and what I do is every time I get paid, I make a small donation to the Haven. So it's a regular paycheck to you know, matching every two weeks recurring, and that is you know how I sustain the Haven and help. And I'd encourage everybody that even if they can do 10 or 20 bucks or you know, if if God's blessed you 50 or 100 bucks every paycheck, just keep the Haven in your forefront and keep a regular donation going. That's that would be amazing.

Richard Piet 20:05

Yeah, so as Daniel said, the HavenBC.org, there's a green button in the upper right that says donate on it. So that's how you can help. You don't have to wait till Roofsit happens on the 12th and 13th of June to uh make that happen. Cut would be kind of nice, right? To uh show up on Friday the 12th and get set up and find out there's already donations rolling in. Yeah, and uh that would be a nice thing to do right now at thehavenbc.org. If you can't write that down, just remember battlecreekpodcast.com. There'll be a link through from this episode to that. Nice.

Barriers Like Pets And Transportation

Richard Piet 20:42

So what Daniel keeps people from catching traction with you? Is there anything that stops them? And is there something that donors can do to help that?

Daniel Jones 20:56

You know, there's there's a few physical barriers that would stop somebody that, and this one's gonna sound crazy. We don't necessarily have a way to house pets. So if somebody's coming to us with a dog or a cat, or your emotional support anaconda or something like that, that that becomes a challenge. We've worked with a couple of veterinarians that somebody could house a dog or a cat for a couple of weeks while they're here, and the veterinarian will take care of them and make sure they're healthy and give them the shots if they need it. So it's it's a good program. It works good, but a lot of people do not want to give up their pet for any length of time. So there's a physical barrier there. Something as simple as workable transportation. That's a big barrier, too. I know our bus system has improved lately. BC Go and those kind of things, community rides, they're good, but those transportation barriers are real. Child care barriers are real, but we provide some and we connect with providers for childcare. There are some structural barriers, but we are learning and we've learned. Over time to take care of those and do the best we can with them. I think those are the things that would prevent people from connecting with us. You know, other than you know, a real attitude of I don't even want, you know, to be here or or help myself. I just want to sit and watch traffic all day outside. Well, that's there's nothing I can do with that necessarily. That's going to be a tough one to overcome. But if somebody wants to work with us and do the things that the case manager is assigning them on a daily basis, they're going to find so much success here. It's it's there's those kind of stories are always wonderful.

Richard Piet 22:33

And that's what I wondered about too. Pets, transit, and childcare, certainly tangible barriers, right? But I guess an unwillingness to make a full commitment to it is a tangible barrier too, even though it might not seem like it. But I wondered about that. And what do you do in those cases? Do you say, we want to help you, let us know when you're ready. I mean, it what happens?

Daniel Jones 22:55

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, there's so much demand for the spaces that are here and family shelter, especially. It's very full all the time over there. So if somebody does not want to help themselves, after 30 days, we're gonna have a real frank conversation that says, you know, you're really not trying to help yourself here. You're not working with our case managers. We need that spot for somebody who does want to improve, you know. So, you know, we won't surprise anybody, but we'll give them a letter that says next week you need to move on. Gonna, you know, reassign your room to somebody who's coming in. So yeah. That is a hard space to be in. I don't like to be in that space. We can connect to other shelters and other cities. Maybe something else will work and you'll get more traction there. Uh, we work with Kalamazoo and Jackson very well.

Richard Piet 23:41

So this is a difficult part of the process at the Haven, right? That there has to be a readiness among folks to to step forward and go for it. And some people just aren't there yet. And you get to, you, I mean you and your team get to sort out those situations and try to come to some sort of outcome that might not be your favorite, but is one that tries to resolve a situation. So put that on top of everything else that the Haven is doing, and you get an understanding for the um immense nature of the job and this opportunity to help support Roof Sit. They're going to sit on the roof at Sunshine Toyota on the 12th and 13th to cause a spectacle and put the light on this very important job that goes on in our community to help our neighbors.

Readiness To Change And Closing

Richard Piet 24:42

So make it happen. Thehavenbc.org is the website, the donate button in the upper right. You can start Roof Sit now by uh doing that.

Daniel Jones 24:52

You can.

Richard Piet 24:53

Yeah. All right, Daniel. We're going to spend uh some time over the next few weeks talking with folks, uh shedding the light on what's happening at the Haven and Inas Much House. Daniel's just one step on that path, and we appreciate the update. And we're here if you have more info for us.

Daniel Jones 25:11

I appreciate it very much, Richard. Thank you.

Richard Piet 25:13

All right, Daniel Jones, executive director at the Haven of Rest in Battle Creek. Again, roof set on the 12th and 13th of June, down with our friends Gary and the team at Sunshine Toyota. We're back soon on community matters.