COVID-19 Five Years Later: Demand for food & shelter remains high in Metro Detroit

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - Half a decade has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the world in its tracks, with its effects still being felt years later.

The backstory:

The week of March 10, 2025 marks five years since the pandemic broke out, and Metro Detroit pantries and non-profits were met with long lines of people in need of food. Years later, the demand still has not gone down.

What they're saying:

That is what the president and CEO of Lighthouse, Ryan Hertz, told FOX 2.

"A lot has happened in those 5 years. At the same time, it feels very recent," he said.

Hertz says they immediately felt the impact of the pandemic back in 2020.

"It was overwhelming," he said. "Our staff was definitely tested, and I’ll just say that during that period of time it was extremely stressful."

Stressful because they had to quickly figure out how to keep their high-risk volunteers and clients safe so they don't get sick, and figure out how to re-work their emergency housing services.

"As well as moving from providing about 500 households a week with emergency food and groceries, to about 5,000 a week," Hertz said.

Big picture view:

He's grateful to the community for donating to their online campaign at the time. It reached $3.5 million, which they were able to use for a few years. But now the money is drying up, and the demand for food and shelter is still high.

"Families with children are the largest growing demographic experiencing homelessness in this country and locally," he said. "We’re really trying to target making sure that children in displaced households do not have to experience the trauma of being unsheltered."

Hertz says homelessness is the highest it's been both nationally and locally.

With dollars from the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan dwindling, along with community donations, leading to the meeting of the growing demand has gotten harder.

"We are accustomed to scrambling to pull together what resources we can to do what we can for people in need in our community," he said.

What's next:

Pivoting has proven to be crucial for them. It's what they’ll continue to do, especially with recent freezes and unfreezes coming from the Trump administration.

"I have confidence that, regardless of where things go, we will be able to find creative ways to deliver on our mission. It just might look differently than it has at other times," he said.

He says the uncertainty is the scary part because people still need to be fed. If you’d like to know about how you can give, you can tap here.