How the Neighborhood Service Organization is helping unhoused people in Metro Detroit

DETROIT – The Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) is helping unhoused people in Metro Detroit find permanent homes.

In 2022, there were over 125,000 Americans who had been homeless for at least a year. Another 400,000 people were experiencing some sort of temporary homelessness at some point in the year.

On top of that, studies show that 50% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That means that many people in America are just a few missed paychecks from sleeping in their car, or in an extended stay in a motel.

The NSO helped Allah Young and Kisma Hearns get back on their feet after they experienced homelessness. Young was unhoused for three years before he found the NSO. When he found them, they helped him with everything he needed.

“When I got here, I got the help I needed, you know? They made sure I had the documents I needed; birth certificate, driver’s license … all the documents you need to move forward, plus a place to live,” he said.

The NSO owns and operates the Bell Building and the Clay Apartments. People in the program can move into those buildings once they’ve lived in a shelter and have shown they have good intentions. Each unit is a one-bedroom apartment that comes mostly furnished.

Young put a red and gold striped bow on the outside of his apartment door as a reminder of the gift the NSO gave him.

“This bow is here because it reminds me of the gift they gave me of residency. When I open the door, it reminds me of the fact that I’m in a place that’s safe and sheltered,” Young said.

Young now serves on the NSO board. He said that he wants to be a voice for those who are unhoused.”

I think it’s wonderful. I think what they’ve done here is help people to realize they too can have a pathway for it and if they do the right things this can be an opportunity for them,” Young said.

Hearns also moved into a similar apartment once she showed them how serious she was about getting off the streets.

“If you are serious and you really are homeless, then they will help you, but if you were just there to get drinks and drugs, they weren’t … cause you weren’t. So, when they realized how serious I was, they helped me every step of the way,” Hearns said.

The NSO also helped her get consistency back into her life.

“I didn’t have consistency,” she said. “I would notice that I would work a job, but then maybe after a year or two, I don’t want to be bothered with them no more. I would quit, or they would fire me, or I would get laid off. NSO taught me to be consistent in whatever it is that I’m trying to do.”

She used that consistency to move from the shelter to the NSO apartment, to eventually her very own apartment in Midtown.

“I’m getting emotional ‘cause it’s … when I think about how sweet these people were to me. He said ‘Guess what Kisma? You got a place to live.’ And I was just so in disbelief because it was seven long years that I waited to get a place to stay,” she said.

The NSO is partnering with the city of Detroit and The Right Productions, Inc. to host a three-day Community of Hope Event over the weekend to benefit the unhoused population in Metro Detroit.

The event features shows from R&B artists Maxwell and Tamia at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 29.

A gospel concert featuring Karen Clark Sheard will be held at Cass Park on July 30.

All proceeds from the concerts will go toward addressing homelessness in Metro Detroit.