How Two Projects Address Metro-Area Homelessness

Transcript

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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.

ANCHOR: Coming up: The city of Winona tries to find a new home for its police and fire departments. Then, how a tiny solution is helping to address the state's big housing shortage. And, a Minnesotan is elected to represent the interests of Native Americans around the Midwest.

I'm Chantel SinGs.

The city of Winona is a step closer to getting a new building to house its police and fire departments. But, architects say the price tag for the proposed facility has jumped by about twenty million dollars since 2023. According to the Winona Post, the council approved a design contract for the joint station earlier this month.
The city has been planning to replace two stations for years, which are decades old. Earlier this year, the city started working on a plan to put the fire and police departments under one roof.

Up next: we've all heard the expression that big things can come in small packages. Faaya Adam tells us how some tiny spaces are making a big difference for some Minnesotans who have been houseless.

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Faaya Adem: As winter tightens its grip on Minnesota, the question of where people sleep becomes a matter of survival.

Kelly Matter: One of the key things is that it is an emergency shelter that really meets people where they're at.

Faaya Adem: Kelly Matter is the President and CEO of Avivo, a nonprofit working to end homelessness and support people through recovery from substance abuse.

Its Avivo Village in Minneapolis opened in December 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new village in St. Cloud began construction in September. Unlike traditional shelters, Avivo Village offers individual tiny-home units inside a warehouse, each with a door that residents can close and lock.

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Kelly Matter: We work with the Hennepin County Coordinated Entry System and all of the various street outreach teams. They refer people to Avivo Village.

Faaya Adem: Hennepin County's Coordinated Entry System helps connect people experiencing homelessness with housing and other resources.

Kelly Matter: There's a misnomer that people choose to sleep outside. We've never met anyone who chooses to sleep outside in Minnesota. That doesn't make any sense, really.

Faaya Adem: Matter says the Avivo Village model was built by listening directly to people experiencing homelessness. Those conversations led to what Avivo calls the "three P's": people, possessions and pets.

Kelly Matter: We let people define family how they want. People can define gender how they want. And say I would not move inside without my significant other. At Avivo Village, you can move in together. Each adult's gonna get their own unit. But you can move in together.

Faaya Adem: For many residents, those details make the difference between staying outside and moving to the Village. But shelter is just the beginning.

Kelly Matter: People come in, and they sleep first. But then we really start talking with people about what is the next best step, and all towards the goal of permanent housing.

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Faaya Adem: Across town, Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center opened Oshki-Gakeyaa, a 24-unit Permanent Supportive Housing community in September.

Ruth Buffalo: Oshki-Gakeyaa is an Ojibwe word that means new direction, or new path. It's to uplift our community in finding a new path forward or a new direction.

Faaya Adem: Ruth Buffalo is the CEO and President of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center.

Ruth Buffalo: 20 of our 24 units must go through Coordinated Entry System, and then four of the units can come directly through MIWRC's direct services programs as referrals.

Faaya Adem: Buffalo says the housing model supports people at different stages of life and recovery.

Ruth Buffalo: it's a way to help people live longer, help people move from active addiction to recovery.

Faaya Adem: If you're experiencing homelessness in Hennepin County, you can begin the Coordinated Entry process by using the Housing Help Tool at hennepin.us.

For North Star Stories, I'm Faaya Adem.

You are listening to North Star Stories.

Wendy Merrill is the new Midwest Region Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians. Merrill, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe tribal government, is now serving on the nation's oldest and largest organization serving tribal communities. The National Congress of American Indians works to secure the rights and benefits Native Americans are entitled to as citizens of sovereign nations. Merrill will serve in her new role for the next two years.

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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.