COTS’ dedication to the needs of homeless men, women and children grew out of a meeting in 1981 of a group of church leaders and human service providers in downtown Detroit. The Coalition On Temporary Shelter (COTS) was founded that year to address Detroit’s growing crisis of homelessness. In 1982 we were incorporated as a private, non-profit organization and shortly thereafter opened a 40-bed Emergency Shelter at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, near old Tiger Stadium. In 1983 COTS purchased our current headquarters facility at 26 Peterboro near Downtown Detroit and began the tradition of providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and comprehensive supportive services to homeless men, women and children in the City of Detroit.

COTS fully renovated this 8-story former hotel between 1984 and 1988. At this facility, COTS provides three housing programs.

• Emergency shelter, meals and comprehensive support services for 140 homeless men, women and children (approximately 50,000 shelter nights per year);
• Fifty-seven single room occupancy (SRO) units of transitional housing and services for single men and women;
• Twenty-three SRO units of permanent supportive housing for physically and/or mentally challenged homeless single adults.

COTS collaborated with Core City Neighborhood Community Development Corporation in 1989 to completely renovate an abandoned apartment building on West Grand Boulevard, creating seven beautiful two and three bedroom apartments where, since 1991, we have operated a transitional housing program for seven homeless women and their children. COTS purchased this building from Core City in 2003.

In 1994 COTS purchased the Carmelite Monastery on Wyoming in Northwest Detroit. Following a capital campaign, we completely renovated this building in 1995-96, creating a facility where fifteen families and up to eight single women live in a space that offers a balance of private family sleeping quarters and common gathering spaces. Since 1996, COTS has operated this transitional housing program which includes comprehensive supportive services and an on-site child care facility.

On January 1, 1999, COTS became the sponsor of 35 units of permanent supportive housing for hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities and their families under the HUD Shelter + Care program. In 2002 this program expanded to 66 units of subsidized rental housing, including homes, duplexes and apartments.

Completed in 2004, Buersmeyer Manor is a beautiful gated community providing housing and supportive services for 35 families and individuals, including those with mental and physical disabilities.

In 2001, COTS entered into a collaborative project with Development Centers, Inc. (DCI), a community mental health service provider, to provide permanent supportive housing for individuals with serious mental illness. Through the linkage of affordable housing and ongoing case management by mental health professionals, this program enables individuals with mental illness and their families to live independently and with dignity in the community.

Today, COTS manages three 24-hour facilities with a staff of more than 80 people and an annual budget of $6 million. Annually we serve approximately 2,000 Detroit area homeless people in our Emergency Shelter and approximately 260 individuals and families in our transitional and permanent housing programs.

Through case management and a wide array of supportive services and housing programs, COTS helps homeless individuals and families break the cycle of homelessness by addressing the causes of their homelessness.