Detroit transit warrior finds his place

After years of prioritizing the city’s less fortunate, a key voice for transit justice in Detroit has received a gift of his own: stable housing. 

Michael Cunningham II, affectionately known as “Brother Cunningham,” has spent more than a decade as an accountability watchdog for bus riders and drivers in the city and is a staple at Detroit City Council and Detroit Department of Transportation meetings. He lobbies for bus improvements and hands out free taxicab rides, hand warmers and cash to those in need. He’s also spent much of that time sleeping in the taxi that he drives to earn a living. 

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Cunningham this week moved into a one-bedroom apartment on the city’s northwest side with aid from the city of Detroit, something he said he didn’t expect to happen any time soon. 

“After eight or so years of homelessness, I am happy and grateful to have a place I can come to every night,” he told BridgeDetroit this week. “It seems like my friends are happier (about my apartment) than me,” he added, with a chuckle. 

Finding affordable housing wasn’t easy though. Cunningham, who experiences mental health and physical health challenges, said it took a long time to even understand what hurdles he was facing. He said he applied for different housing programs over the years, but “I had a hard time even getting what the requirements were for some of them.”

Still, he opted to sleep in his taxicab or on friends couches over going to a shelter. 

“I was robbed twice while staying at a homeless shelter,” he noted. “I had taken medication for sleeping problems I have and I was completely knocked out. Then someone stole my wallet, my shoes, they stole my phone. After the second time, I said ‘I’m never staying in a shelter again.’” 

But Cunningham said he grew tired of being on guard all the time, so said he called on “friends in high places” to help him out. One of those friends is Detroit Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison. 

“That’s when I went straight to making phone calls saying, ‘this is a man who volunteered his time to help everybody,’” Bettison said of Cunningham. “Not one time has he ever complained about his own circumstance, he just tries to speak up for everybody else.”

After learning of Cunningham’s situation, Bettison found him a hotel room until an apartment could be arranged. Bettison said he wonders how much more advocacy work Cunningham might be able to do with more housing stability.

“Brother Cunningham, just to be able to actually thrive while not having secure housing, it just shows the extraordinary person that he is, because I don’t think that I would have been able to do that,” he said. 

Within two months of the first phone call from Bettison, Cunningham found an affordable apartment thanks to Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department and Central City Health – a nonprofit that aims to provide mental health services and housing services to those in need. 

Cunningham is among thousands in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck experiencing homelessness, according to estimates from the Michigan Statewide Homeless Information System (MSHMIS). The web-based database used by service organizations to collect and record information estimated more than 5,600 people in those communities were enduring homelessness in 2021.

David Bowser, chief of Housing Solutions and Support Services for HRD, said the most recent numbers aren’t finalized yet, but “the homelessness issue has grown since then.” He cited the end of federal COVID-19 relief aid for rental assistance, mental health challenges and a lack of education about housing resources for the increase. 

Rochella Hopkins-Stewart, an organizer with the Detroit People’s Platform Transit Justice Team, said Cunningham is a “blessing to the transit community.”

“Even in him being homeless, he (was) always thinking of what he can do for others,” Hopkins-Stewart said. “Whether it’s a free ride, giving out food, $5, hand warmers and bus tickets.”

Fellow Transit Justice Team Organizer with Detroit People’s Platform Renard Monczunski said he met Cunningham in 2015, but didn’t learn of his housing issues until “about a year or two ago.” 

“When I found out, I was just disheartened and dismayed,” Monczunski said. “How could someone who gives so much be so looked over?”

Bettison said that some “philanthropic partners” worked to secure furniture for Cunningham through the Pontiac-based nonprofit Humble Design Detroit.

On Friday, tables, chairs, rugs, lamps a bed and a couch were delivered as well as a large wall print of the Detroit People Mover track. In the interim, Cunningham said he’d been sleeping on a borrowed mattress.

Now that he has his place, Cunningham said he is most excited to host others. 

“I want to start hosting people over and giving them coffee or something warm to drink so we can all watch City Council and DDOT meetings,” Cunningham said Thursday afternoon while standing in his new kitchen. “I think that would be really nice. That way, they can do their public comments from here and we can get some new voices in those meetings.”

Monczunski said he’s “overjoyed” for his friend. 

“I’m amazed that he will even open up his whole own home to get people civically involved like that,” Monczunski said. “It shows that he really cares. His compassion is limitless.”

To contact Cunningham’s taxi cab service for a ride, call (313) 334-9669. He also accepts donations through Cash App at $5555555Love.