Traverse City Area Struggles With Housing Teen Offenders

Traverse City Area Struggles With Housing Teen Offenders

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (CSU) — A new Michigan law has made it hard for communities without a place to keep young people who break the law. The law says that authorities cannot lock up these teens near adults.

In Traverse City, the police had to find a home for a 16-year-old in Macomb County because he was caught in Florida. It is 250 miles away from Traverse City.

I made 25 calls to find a place for this person, but I kept hearing “call back tomorrow.”

Richmond said he tried facilities closer to Traverse City, but he had no success. There were no beds and the out-of-county teens could not be accepted. There was also a lack of staff too.

Jason Smith said he has heard about the struggle to find places for certain teens.

I’m not sure why some communities make a decision to fund a facility and others don’t. But if Grand Traverse County went everywhere and they landed on Macomb County, it is a bigger question. It would be a story about what is going on in this area.

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