Thank you for the incredible feedback and ideas you provided during our discussion last week on prevention and economic assistance. If you missed the discussion or want to go back, you can review the Menti responses or recording.
We are excited to continue the conversation to solicit your guidance and advice about the investments included in the Governor’s budget proposal being considered at the Legislature. Your feedback will provide critical insight that helps shape the processes for these funds to be requested, for allocations to be determined, and for expectations to be set related to the use of these resources. Tomorrow’s conversation will focus on affordable and supportive housing. Ahead of the discussion tomorrow, please consider the following questions:
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What changes would help people access the housing options they need and want?
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What would it take to create housing with lower barriers?
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What gaps and/or challenges exist for creating and providing low-barrier supportive housing?
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What changes would help people who need it to access supportive housing?
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How do we address existing inequities in supportive housing and who needs to “be at the table” to do so?
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In creating more housing, what should we learn from past successes or failures?
Join the discussion tomorrow from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. to share your ideas and insights! If you have any questions about your registration, please email Elizabeth Dressel.
Last Friday, Governor Walz signed Chapter 50, SF 2677 into law which provides direct payments to frontline workers and replenishes the unemployment trust fund. The session law temporary shelter and hotels employees and public health and social services employees among many who are eligible for the frontline worker payments. Individuals must apply through Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) over the yet-to-be-determined to quality for a] payment. DLI will be sharing the application process and details as soon as they are available. Visit https://frontlinepay.mn.gov/ to view available information on the program and to sign up to receive updates.
The Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH) has launched a new website:
The site provides information about justice planning process, webinars, newsletters, and more. You can also find all of the COVID-19 resources the MDH team has shared. This new site is meant to be interactive and allow you to provide your ideas and input on the development of a justice-oriented strategic plan. We will be posting monthly questions for feedback and documents that you can provide your feedback on. Please bookmark the new website since the corresponding pages on Heading Home Alliance site will no longer be updated.
Last Friday the team at Rainbow Research including the hired consultants with lived experience of homelessness, launched the Justice Work Groups which are working to create a unified, operational definition of housing, racial, and health justice for people experiencing homelessness. Thank you to all of you who joined! This definition will drive the development of strategies and specific actions that will shape the statewide plan. If you missed the first meeting, you can review the meeting materials on the MICH website and please plan on joining this week!
The second meeting is this Friday, May 6 from 10:00 a.m, - 12:00 p.m. All are welcome to join! In addition to the four remaining Justice Work Group meetings, there will be additional community conversations to allow people the opportunity to provide input and follow the progress of the work groups. The community conversations will be Friday, May 13 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, Tuesday, May 24 from 6:30-8:30 pm, and Wednesday, June 22 on the weekly webinar.
Find meeting materials and get involved:
The number of COVID-19 cases among people experiencing have remained stable in the last week. The MDH team continues monitor the increasing cases counts in the general population.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) continues to have a supply of iHealth over-the-counter rapid antigen tests available immediately to congregate living facilities. Test kits expire in July 2022.
Note: If your facility plans to distribute the tests to residents or staff for personal use (i.e., residents/staff will administer the test on self and read their own test results), a CLIA waiver is not required. However, if your facility plans to administer the tests to residents or staff, the facility will be required to provide their CLIA number and agree to report results. If you have any questions about testing guidance, please contact the MDH Congregate Settings Response Team at Health.R-Congregate@state.mn.us.
Minnesota Housing continues to have open requests for proposals.
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Minnesota Housing along with its partners announced that the 2022 Consolidated Request for Proposals (RFP) is now open for applications. The annual Consolidated RFP process makes funding available to help build and preserve homes that are affordable in communities throughout Minnesota. Learn more about the specific guidance and contacts for technical assistance for single-family and multifamily applications in the RFP announcement.
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Minnesota Housing has issued a RFP inviting interested parties to submit proposals for the purpose of developing and executing a HOME-ARP Allocation Plan that will be submitted to HUD for approval. The HOME-ARP Allocation Plan will include the creation of a needs assessment, a gaps analysis, recommendations of HOME-ARP activities that Minnesota Housing would consider, and an implementation plan for carrying out those activities. Review the full RFP materials here. Proposal materials must be submitted via email to jessica.deegan@state.mn.us no later than 5:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
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