Plan to combat homelessness in Minnesota rolls out this spring

An ambitious plan to coordinate Minnesota’s response to homelessness across state agencies — shaped by those who have directly experienced housing instability — will swing into action this spring.

The Crossroads to Justice Strategic Plan aims to reduce homelessness statewide by 15% by 2026 and to narrow large racial disparities among people experiencing homelessness. Another goal is to close racial disparities in mortality and improve the health of people facing homelessness.

“This plan, which will be our North Star for our state agencies, is comprehensive in covering approaches like increasing shelter capacity, as well as how to approach related needs such as ensuring that addiction treatment and recovery resources are widely accessible,” said Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in a statement.

Some of the funds in the $2.6 billion housing stability package signed last year by Gov. Tim Walz will fuel the plan’s action steps, which include more funding for homeless shelters, rental assistance, affordable housing and support to help people find and keep housing.

Walz and Flanagan in 2022 delegated the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH), a cabinet-level state advisory group leading state efforts on housing stability, to craft the plan. Over the next four years, about a dozen state and regional agencies will work to implement the plan in hopes of reducing barriers to benefits, housing and jobs, among other initiatives.

Agency-specific goals include better access to state workforce programs, a pilot program to improve food assistance to those who cycle in and out of homelessness, better housing and benefits for veterans, and more transitional housing for those leaving prison.

The Crossroads to Justice plan will shape priorities during the next legislative session, said MICH Executive Director Cathy ten Broeke, who has worked in government on efforts to end homelessness for more than 30 years.

The $2.6 billion state investment in housing “is a huge down payment on this work,” she said.

Crossroads to Justice is the first plan of its kind to include people who have experienced housing instability or homelessness as justice consultants. The consultants will continue to be involved in the implementation stage.

One of the twelve consultants, Marlena Jasch, is an enrolled member of the North Dakota-based Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who currently lives in St. Cloud. From 2017 to 2019, she was homeless while on a housing waitlist, spending summers in a tent and winters in her car. She said she struggled to find safe, available spaces in shelters in the rural communities where she lived, including Melrose and Sauk Centre.

A rapid rehousing program helped Jasch secure an apartment in 2019. But COVID-19 restrictions disrupted her plans to become a licensed practical nurse, and her landlord filed to evict her after police responded to a domestic violence call at her apartment. She became homeless again while being stalked by her abuser.

Jasch sought temporary housing at a local shelter for domestic violence survivors, but was turned down because “my actual domestic assault had not been within the last couple of days,” she said. She eventually found a place at a shared house.

Jasch said she has brought her experience with domestic violence, and how it led to homelessness, to her work as a justice consultant.

“It was important to me that that got brought to the table, and added to the list, but it was very new to be bringing that to [state agencies] and for them to be working on it as it relates to this plan,” she said.

Jasch has collaborated with state officials in the Public Safety, Corrections, Human Services and Administration departments. One result of working together is the Domestic Violence Housing First program — trauma-informed, survivor-centered housing assistance that focuses on quickly housing domestic violence survivors and giving them ongoing support services. The program will be implemented through the Department of Human Services.

Her experience as a Native woman also has shaped her approach in working as a justice consultant, Jasch said. Native Americans in Minnesota are 28 times more likely to experience homelessness than non-Latino whites, according to the Crossroads to Justice plan. Several of the plan’s steps underscore increasing funding opportunities and expanding relationships with tribal nations and urban tribal communities.

Michael Giovanis, one of the justice consultants who contributed to the report, said the process gave power to the consultants.

“Then in turn we were able to encourage these large agencies, but also the individual employees working at these agencies, to see the importance of power-sharing and community,” he said.

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for a free newsletter to receive Sahan’s stories in your inbox.