Lindsay: And it ended up passing, which is even better, and it was passed by like an extreme majority, which is better on top of that because it means that people care about it.
Lauren: According to a report done in 2017 by the equality of opportunity project, now called opportunity insights, the median income of a family of a U of M student was $154,000. Meanwhile, in 2018, the census reported the median household income of a family in Washtenaw County, where U of M is housed, at only $69,434 with 15% of Washtenaw County persons at or below the poverty line. It’s Lauren and for this episode, I sat down with LSA senior Lindsay Calka. She’s president of Michigan Movement, a student run nonprofit on campus focused on aiding those experiencing homelessness in Ann Arbor. She also interned with Groundcover News, the local street paper, another organization in our community dedicated directly to working with those experiencing homelessness. We talked about what got her started working with urban inequality, and how she has spent her time on campus making a difference.
Lindsay: Yeah, my name is Lindsay Calka, I’m a senior in at the University of Michigan in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, studying social theory and practice and a minor in urban studies, which is a lot and is a major that I kind of made for myself, the concentration of my major is like urban poverty, and like economic inequality as it manifests via the city. So it’s pretty particular. But it’s been able to allow me, or it’s allowed me to study very particular things that will affect stuff that I’m really, or that I care a lot about, like homelessness,
which is kind of the segue into what I’m up to outside of school, which is my involvement in a student org called Michigan Movement, which is a student run nonprofit that works directly with the homeless community in Ann Arbor. And generally, with agencies that do that same work in Washtenaw County, it’s a student org in the school of public health. So a lot of our programs are health focused, but really like the work that we do, can, you know, attract people of all disciplines, and it’s just kind of great for anyone who’s willing to get involved in the community and is, again, passionate about that cause.
And it’s, it’s funny, because I came into undergrad like, not like, I had no interest in declaring didn’t know what I was going to be doing, um, was like, I’ll figure that out later. And I did end up figuring it out later. But I’m glad I didn’t start too early, because it certainly came later. But I joined MIM (Michigan Movement) because I just wanted to like keep up with volunteering, like doing community service, which is like, honestly, in retrospect, I’m like, “Oh, that’s kind of lame,” because all I wanted to do was just kind of like the stuff that I was doing in high school, it felt very normal, was just like a part of my life routine. In high school, I would routinely go to a place called Trinity cafe – and I’m from Tampa – But it was like a restaurant that was free and usually would serve folks experiencing homelessness or just like living in poverty, and it was just like a full restaurant and you would like a waiter or waitress or cook. And yeah, it was super awesome, and like, something I love doing and I just wanted to keep that up.
So I was searching for student orgs that would like link me to that. But um, what kept me like kind of sticking around is doing this stuff. Like, it wasn’t even Michigan movement itself, what kind of the stuff it exposed me to like, helped me create a sense of home and like really got me into loving living in Ann Arbor very quickly and made me feel like I was a part of the community actually, instead of just like, someone who was living on North campus, which is what I was doing and like felt kind of disconnected. But knowing people that weren’t affiliated with the university was super important to me. And so it was doing that stuff freshman year that like, just Yeah, I got head over heels and just like caring so much about doing this.
And like, I think everyone in MIM would share the same experience, but like, you meet folks and like, you study just a little bit about like, what causes kind of this phenomena of like, housing insecurity and how there’s just like housing scarcity and stuff, and you’re just like, ah, like, it’s, it feels so easy to solve. And so I was just kind of, like, drawn to that and thinking that, like, that’s kind of the most important thing I could spend my time doing.
Because I yeah, I just think housing is so important. And I don’t think that’s a very unique take. But like, Yeah, I just can’t stand spending any of my time doing anything else.
it cracks me up like especially in the classes that I’m in some people are learning about this stuff through the classroom. And you can just like see, people’s jaw drop when they hear different statistics. So they’re just like, I had no clue that like the rent in Ann Arbor is so much more expensive than other places. And I’m kind of like, duh! (laughs)
Oh, so I do think that, without hearing the facts about it, I was just exposed to it experientially. And that was, yeah, it was something to do with it. But I don’t think like a lot of people can live four years here without noticing that we have an extremely high homeless population or that it’s like, the cost of living in Ann Arbor is really high like it will happen at one point. It’s just a matter of like, what way you’re exposed to it. And like if that way, um, kind of inspires you to do something about it.
Lauren: Mm hmm.
Lauren (over music): In this next part, I talked to Lindsay about Prop C. Prop C was a proposal on the November 2020 ballot in Ann Arbor dedicated to producing more affordable housing in the city over the coming years. It proposed a new tax on homeowners that would slowly build up the money to build new homes for those at up to 60% of the median income. Like Lindsay will mention, citizens housed in these new units will have access to specific social services that can make a fundamental difference to those in need.
Lauren: Cool, um, Prop C is… it just passed, right? Yeah. So that’s exciting. Did you, are you voting in Arbor and like, vote for Prop C?
Lindsay: Yeah, I made sure by this election that I was voting here, because I was doing absentee in Florida. But yeah, there’s just too many things on this ballot that I was like, I want to let someone know that I want.
Lauren: Yeah, yeah.
Lindsay: So basically, the best thing about it is one, like, isolated money to invest in affordable housing is super important. And it’s like, seems like a given but it’s something that like will prevent it from happening. If we don’t have that housing stock, then, or like that funding for housing stock, then we rely upon, like private developers to do it. And that just is where things freeze, because we’re so reliant on that. And if it happens, it probably won’t end up being affordable in a couple years, or whatever. So this is like money for affordable housing, that will stay affordable housing, which is super great. And then also, what’s cool about this is all of the housing that’s built with it, residents of those places will have access to specific social services that will be funded through this proposal as well. So that together is just like really great. And it ended up passing, which is even better. And it was passed by like an extreme majority, which is even better on top of that, because it means that people care about it. Um, so yeah, it’s like a really exciting thing that like, Yes, you know, you just get proof that people are noticing, and they’re caring. But at the same time, it’s like, this is something for over the course of 20 years, and that money that it will make has to be accumulated. So like, for the next couple years, we’re going to be fighting the same fight of getting people housed. It won’t go away, just like it’s a step in the right direction. But yeah.
Lauren: yeah, what is affordable housing an arbor? Like, do you know what that would look like? Kind of, like, changes we would see?
Lindsay: It, well, it’s calculated based off of the average median income. So it’s affordable housing should be less than 30% of like an individual’s income. Now, I’m not sure what that exact number is. But that is what they would use to decide what the rental prices should be. It would be for like building new facilities, or like new actual development.
Lauren: Do you have any, like any classes or things that have like, changed your perspective on it?
Lindsay: Some of my favorite classes have been like, well, I’m in a class right now called future of the city, which is really just like a soc class, like an upper level, special topics, sociology class that looks at, just, American cities, and but it actually is through like a lens of poverty, which is something that I was expecting to have to add myself. But it was kind of just built into the curriculum, which has been super great. A lot of the classes in the urban studies minor. It’s in the RC, which like, naturally kind of has a social justice leaning to it. So again, those classes are focused on it.
I did a program called semester in Detroit, which, it’s offered through the RC as well,
Lauren: yeah!
Lindsay: you’re in an urban studies minor when you do it, but I think like urban poverty is kind of where we have to begin looking at things. and it has a it’s a very refreshing, although rural poverty is like a whole thing in itself, like, usually urban poverty means that there are enough resources, they’re just not distributed equitably, or they’re just like, there’s an insane amount of inequality, which means that like, maybe a solution is almost easier to achieve. But if we’re like, not getting it right here, where we have the capital to do so, it will be harder to do it in places where there isn’t capital.
So that’s, and besides just being kind of drawn to the city as like, a wonderful place, that can do a lot of things and be a lot, like, make a lot of people’s lives easier. You know, I think that that’s like a great way to kind of begin learning about homelessness or other issues related to urban poverty.
Lauren: Um, yeah, thank you for letting me interview you, and sharing your experience. Do you have any any like parting message?
Lindsay: Um, (laughs) no, I think I’ve said what I need to say.
Lauren: Okay, well, thank you.
Lindsay: Bye-bye.
Lauren: Bye.
Lauren: Thanks for listening to this episode of Michigan voices. Next time you’re walking downtown, I hope you’ll take a minute to observe some of what’s going on in our community. For more information on Lindsay’s organization go to www.mimovement.org. Special thanks again to Lindsay, to Jackson Roth for the music, and to our amazing instructor T Hetzel. Thanks again for listening.
