On a quiet street in Ypsilanti, a gray home sits waiting for anyone who needs it. A rainbow Peace flag hangs in the front, with two other Peace signs hanging to the left and right of the front door. As people pass the garden boxes in the front, and continue to the backyard, they are met with many messages of love, hope, and encouragement. All written on the surrounding fences in different handwritings, colors, and degrees of fadedness, it tells all who walk by that many, many people have been here before.
Inside the home, people can find a warm, welcoming space of respite and community. This home, along with three others throughout Washtenaw County, welcomes those experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity with open arms. It’s called Hospitality House Ypsi, which is part of the larger Hospitality House program in the area. During specific times of the week, people experiencing homelessness can come in, do their laundry, take a shower, and get a warm meal. These homes have a variety of volunteers who come during these open hours, who are dedicated to making their guests feel welcomed and accepted.
“It provides a lot of things that a shelter might provide, but the primary focus is that home feeling,” said Lindsay Calka, director of Groundcover News and one of the volunteers at Hospitality House Ypsi. When that house was created, she was chosen to live there full time, and provide the day to day support for both residents and guests. “You're going to come in and you are welcome. You're going to see people that you know and love. You're going to be treated like you're known and loved.”
Along with the open times, these Hospitality Houses also allow those experiencing homelessness to actually stay in the homes, according to availability. If a room is open, someone experiencing homelessness can stay for as long as they need- whether it be a few days or a few months.
“People have a room and a bed, they have the code to the door, and can live there like we do. They have chores and can contribute as they will, in any way except money,” Calka said.
These Hospitality Houses are created through a nonprofit organization called MISSION, or Michigan Itinerant Shelter System Interdependent Out of Necessity. MISSION’s goal is, according to their website, "to work in partnership and solidarity between the homeless and the housed to build community and mitigate the alienation, disenfranchisement, loneliness, loss of agency and other forms of suffering caused by homelessness.” They provide a myriad of resources for unhoused people in Washtenaw County, including food distribution, facilitating warming shelters, and, of course, the Hospitality Houses. In some cases, such as Hospitality House Ypsi, MISSION will buy a home and bring people, like Calka, to live there full time and assist in daily operations.
Or, if you’re Peggy Lynch, you open your own home to the program.
Lynch is the owner of another House of Hospitality, called Mercy House. The large blue home sits right outside of downtown Ann Arbor, and offers many of the same services that Hospitality House Ypsi does. Lynch facilitates the open hours every Monday and Wednesday from 6 to 9 pm, and Saturdays from 10 am to 12 pm. During these times, Lynch and other volunteers cook a warm meal and offer it to those visiting. Saturday mornings seem to be the most popular drop in times, affectionately being known as “Peggy’s Pancakes.”
Lynch became involved in supporting those facing housing insecurity after meeting her partner at a tent community called Camp Take Notice. Once Camp Take Notice was evicted, many of its resources no longer had a home base- such as community meetings and meals. When this happened, Lynch moved operations to hers. Now, her residence has become a safe space for people to create community.
“We welcome guests into our home to get a meal, take a shower, do laundry…and just build friendships. [We] help people have an opportunity to relax and make friends with people in a home environment,” Lynch said.
The home environment is a very important aspect of the Hospitality Houses. Because of this importance, volunteers like Lynch and Calka go above and beyond the advertised resources. They do this by celebrating visitors' birthdays, throwing baby showers for homeless mothers, and hosting holiday parties (reportedly, the end of year Christmas party is a can’t miss).
“It’s really important for us to celebrate holidays and individual important days so that people feel like, when they go into housing, they feel like they've got a home base even if they don't live with us. There’s a connection to a place where they are cared about,” said Lynch.
Through the resources they provide, Hospitality Houses create a sense of community that is felt not only by the volunteers, but by the attendees as well. People experiencing homelessness know that, whether they go to Hospitality House Ypsi, Mercy House or any other Hospitality House in Washtenaw County, they will find a group of people who genuinely care about them and their wellbeing.
Vicky Macknick has contributed, and benefitted from, this community feeling. Macknick used to live at the Robert J. Delonis Center, and discovered Mercy House during their first year of operation. Through her love of cooking, she was able to not only receive food, but also make food for those who would come during open hours. She now volunteers at Mercy House whenever she can. Providing for others has given her peace during a difficult time, she said.
“It gave me a place to get out of the madness of the homeless shelter. I was able to come over here, spend my food stamps, and cook for anybody… I love coming over here and cooking, it’s my way of nurturing,” Macknick said.
“I think that the biggest resource that I think we give is community,” said Gracie, another person who has both benefitted and contributed to Mercy House. “Not just the showers, not just the breakfast on Saturdays, it's the community.”
Gracie, who goes by her first name “like Madonna," has worked with Mercy House and Lynch for six years, and describes both as being a foundation and a rock throughout her life. In Gracie’s view, Mercy House stands out not just for its tangible resources, but for its powerful sense of community—a rare haven of support and connection amidst the challenges of homelessness.
“Oftentimes, especially when you're homeless, you get a lot of shut doors, and people aren't welcoming you in, they're actually pushing you away. So it's cool that [Lynch] bought this house for that reason- to welcome people in,” Gracie said.
That is the ultimate goal of Lynch, Calka, and the rest of the Hospitality Houses in Washtenaw County. They want people to know they are welcome, and that there is a space for them to utilize specific resources and create a community.
“The stability of us being here on a predictable schedule is a helpful thing for people who are really experiencing a profound lack of stability,” Lynch said. “Just having someone here that remembers their name and makes eye contact and cares that they're going through probably the worst time of their life, is very helpful.”
“Just having that relationship, knowing a familiar face or having somewhere to go, I know for me that was super important. Just having someplace where people were welcoming me in,” Gracie said.
For more information on how to support these Hospitality Houses, or to utilize the resources yourself, please visit missiona2.org.
