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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
As the leaves change and the weather gets colder, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the incredible work that Hennepin County has done recently, and continues to do, to expand emergency shelter and housing affordability for our residents. I firmly believe that stable housing is a basic human right that everyone deserves, regardless of employment status or background, and I am glad to have so many opportunities to act on that belief through my work at the county.
As many of you know, Hennepin County and regions across the country continue to experience a dire lack of options when it comes to affordable housing and shelter for our residents in need. We know that stable housing is the foundation on which the other facets of life depend – without housing, it is much more difficult for residents to obtain and maintain employment and address mental health and chemical dependency issues.
Hennepin County residents have different needs when it comes to housing and shelter, which is why Hennepin County is committed to expanding options and increasing accessibility across the housing continuum, which ranges from emergency shelter and deeply affordable and supportive housing on one end to affordable home ownership on the other.
Pre-pandemic, the county was already spending $146M annually on housing activities across income levels, including emergency shelter, deeply affordable housing, and home ownership assistance programs. Now, the largest portion of our federal COVID-19 relief funding is also allocated to projects across the housing continuum. This has given us an unprecedented opportunity for innovation in how we structure housing, including single-room occupancy and social service supports, as well as in how we fund that housing, with a focus on first-in funding, new home ownership assistance programs, and a new foray into county-owned housing.
Hotels to Housing and Single Room Occupancy Strategy
Our Hotels to Homes program has been hugely successful in helping people transition from homelessness to stable housing. During the pandemic, Hennepin County began using federal relief funding to purchase hotels, which were then used as protective housing for seniors and people with underlying medical conditions that put them at high risk of COVID-19 complications who did not have other access to safe stable housing.
One great example of this is the Metro Inn project. In late 2020, Hennepin County purchased the Metro Inn, located in the Windom neighborhood in south Minneapolis. The Inn had long been considered a dangerous area in the neighborhood, so neighbors were hopeful but wary when they heard of the County’s plans to turn the building into 34 units of emergency shelter.
Over the course of the last two years, we have worked closely with Windom neighbors to ensure they were included in the planning process for rehabilitation of the building and the selection of a property manager for the project. We’ve stayed in close contact with the neighborhood association and hosted multiple community meetings to hear neighbors’ questions, hopes, and concerns.
Because of the hard work of staff and incredible communication with the neighborhood, the Metro Inn project has been a great success. Every resident who stayed in protective housing there has been able to find stable housing, and crime rates in the area have plummeted. The Hotels to Homes project at large has transitioned 464 people from homelessness to permanent housing as of June 2022, with a retention rate of 97%.
The County is now working to renovate the Metro Inn yet again – this time to fit the Single Room Occupancy (SRO) model to increase the availability of permanent affordable housing in the area. The Metro Inn is just one of six properties that are currently being converted to this model of housing, which will provide a total 226 deeply affordable units by Summer of 2023.
Maximally Supportive Affordable Housing Projects
For the first time, Hennepin County is leading rather than just responding to the real estate market by being a first-in funder through our innovative Supportive Housing Strategy. Endeavors 2.0, by Catholic Charities, which opened this summer, is an incredible example of this. Co-located with 167 supportive housing units serving those who chronically experience homelessness, this project also includes 30 medical respite beds for people exiting hospitals with complex medical conditions, six transitional single-room occupancy units for veterans exiting the VA hospital, and a county-operated Health Care for the Homeless clinic. Having these additional supports on-site at this and other supportive housing projects across the county makes it much easier for people to be connected to the medical care and social services that they need to obtain and maintain stable long-term housing.
I am proud that Hennepin County was the first in funding partner for Exodus 2.0 with a $5 million commitment that helped secure the needed additional funding to bring this groundbreaking project online. By investing more boldly, earlier in the project development process, we hope to be able to work with other partners to create 1,000 units of deeply affordable supportive housing over 10 years. This is the type of housing that serves the unique needs of neighbors that experience the worst health and safety outcomes when they experience housing instability.
Innovation and Evolution in Emergency Shelter
Emergency shelter is an important part of the housing continuum in Hennepin County, especially for those who need a place to stay short-term. While we work hard to make sure shelter stays are rare, brief, and non-reoccurring. We also want emergency shelter to be dignified and comfortable for those experiencing an emergency, with a clear focus on helping people resolve their emergency and return to stable housing as quickly as possible. Over the past two years, we have utilized federal funds to expand access to and reduce barriers to emergency shelter for people exiting homelessness. This work has included:
- Early intervention and assistance for people as they enter the system
- Brand new low barrier, culturally specific shelters focused on people who would otherwise experience unsheltered homelessness, including Avivo Village (100 beds) and the American Indian Community Development Corporation Homeward Bound (50 beds)
- A brand new 30-bed medical respite shelter for people needing acute care with healthcare on site
- Hennepin’s first ever small scale (30 bed) shelter exclusively for people who identify as female
- Transformation of our existing shelters to make them 24/7 as far as practicable, to add storage, air filtration systems, laundry and to increase staff supports on site
- A new team launched in early 2022 of housing focused case managers to help people in shelter and unsheltered settings move to permanent housing. This team recently moved their 300th person from homelessness to permanent housing.
Another one of these new, low-barrier shelters is a 30-unit women’s only shelter which opened at the end of 2020 – the first of its kind in Hennepin County. Not only was the previous lack of shelter for people identifying as women a stress on our shelter system, but studies have shown that women experiencing homelessness face a significantly higher risk of physical harm or sexual abuse. Providing a place where women can stay without fear of additional trauma is a huge contributor to future stability and success.
We continue to explore options for additional low-volume, population specific shelters to provide people experiencing homelessness places to stay that feel as safe and low-stress as possible.
Moving Forward
These are just a few examples of the huge body of work that is Hennepin County’s homeless response and affordable housing portfolio. Our pandemic crisis response alone includes:
- $57.5M in rental and utility assistance to nearly 10,000 households
- $1.8M to 146 homeowners through our Homeownership Preservation Program
- $16.5M on additional emergency shelters with our Hotels to Housing Intiative.
- Over $91M on affordable housing, homelessness recovery, and housing focused case management
Since 2000, our Affordable Housing Incentive fund has committed $84M and leveraged $1.9B from outside funders to develop and/or preserve 10,108 affordable housing units in Hennepin County.
I will continue to prioritize projects across the housing continuum going forward, with particular focus on deeply affordable units. This work remains, I believe, some of the most important that we take up. In June of this year, the board approved more than $27M on 22 projects across the county which will create and preserve 1,900 affordable housing units. This money is allocated for 884 affordable rental units, the preservation of 986 units, and the creation of 73 home ownership opportunities, as well as buying and converting existing properties to long term SRO housing.
This work is paying off. This year’s annual count of people experiencing homeless was the lowest we’ve had in 17 years. Providing people with stable housing and access to social workers, employment, and training opportunities allows them to be successful and address other issues in their lives, including mental health and addiction struggles. These successes show that with focused funding and the right strategies, we can continue to make homelessness in Hennepin County as rare, brief, and non-reoccurring as possible.
As always, I welcome any comments and questions you may have. You can reach me at my office (612.348.7883) or via email at marion.greene@hennepin.us.
My best,
Contact us
Marion Greene
Commissioner, 3rd District
612-348-7883
Elie Farhat
Principal Aide
612-348-7125
Laura Hoffman
District Aide
612-348-0863
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