"We will march! We will fight! Decent housing is our right!"
Those words echoed in downtown Ann Arbor last night as the National Women's Rights Organizing Coalition and Homeless Power Union participated in their "March for Homeless Rights."
Marchers left the First Presbyterian Church on Washtenaw Avenue at 6:30 p.m. The march concluded at the entrance to the Huron Street homeless night shelter around dusk. The 40-person group was escorted by several Ann Arbor Police Department officers.
Spawned by a homeless rights groups' criticizing recent Washtenaw County Task Force suggestion to expand the shelter system, protesters chastised the task force for proposing that a new shelter with an increase of only 75 beds be built near a prison.
NWROC President Jessica Curtin said volunteer work is not the solution to the problem the area faces.
"(NWROC's) conception of how to fight homelessness is not to organize volunteer efforts but to organize a union of homeless people to get control of shelters and facilities," said Curtin, an LSA senior.
Also marching in the rally were representatives from the Michigan Student Assembly, which endorsed the rally at Tuesday night's meeting.
"Homeless people are community members just as students are, and we have a responsibility to address the issue," said Social Work Rep. Charity Bracey.
A resident of the Huron Street shelter gave an analogy to describe the efforts the county is making to fix the homeless problem.
"People working on the problem in Ann Arbor are trying to fix a bullet-wound with a Band-Aid," said Wendell, who did not want his name published. "They have good intentions, but don't succeed in getting the job done."
Wendell emphasized that to fix the homeless problem, the underlying causes, usually drug or alcohol abuse or extreme personal issues in the lives of the homeless need to be addressed first.
AJA DEKLEVA COHEN/Daily
LSA sophomore Joel Heeres marches with the National Women's Rights Organizing Coalition through the Diag last night.