By ELIZABETH FERSZT
Contributing Writer
The Jackson City Council voted on Tuesday April 29 to finalize and close the sale of the former T.A. Wilson Academy, a former Jackson Public Schools elementary school located at the corner of Morrell and Blackstone streets.
The property was purchased by a group called Residents in Action. The group’s CEO Tashia Carter presented a check for $150,000 to council members at the meeting. The sale had been delayed for almost a year, as the group had “struggled to secure an advance on a grant it intended to use for the purchase” according to reporting by Darius Udrys, for Fox 47 News Lansing.
Residents in Action plans to convert the building into a resource center and temporary housing for the homeless, which it had been informally doing since 2023-24.
For Carter, it was a “major weight lifted off.” For City Manager Jonathan Greene, he stated, “I’m happy we’ve finally sold it and it’s off our books.”
Video from the meeting shows Carter handing Greene the check, and then shaking hands with Jackson Mayor Daniel Mahoney, to cheers and clapping from the medium-sized audience in council chambers.
Residents in Action had originally installed several individual micro-mini houses, called Pallet Shelters in the former playground area of the school. The tiny white, free-standing buildings were used to augment the housing spaces and bunks inside the school building proper.
However, the city made RIA remove the pallet shelters, and temporarily suspend services.
Pallet Shelter is an innovative temporary housing company that calls itself, “The leader in rapid-response shelter villages” for use in disaster or emergency situations such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, or floods. Or for pop-up employee housing in areas that can’t support an influx of workers for a construction or other large-scale project.
Additionally, their website states that “more than half our team has experienced homelessness, substance abuse disorder, or the criminal justice system” – meaning that they are a group of survivors and problem solvers, with direct experience working with the populations they serve. The model shown here can sleep one person or a couple, at 70 sq. ft. It has electricity, heating, cooling, and a locking door. Bathrooms and kitchens are in separate pods. It sells for $5,900 to $7,600 according to online sources.
Photo by Elizabeth Fertz
The T.A. Wilson Academy sale was fialized earlier this week at the Jackson City Council meeting.
