Adult Shelter Connect - A ‘One Stop Shop’ for People in Need of Shelter
Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 5:12PMArticle by Claudia Kittock, photo by Rick Kittock
“I walk all night.”
“All night?”
“Yup! It’s the best way to stay safe. I know the parts of the city to stay away from, and I just walk.”
“What about a shelter?”
“Last night I walked to 3 shelters and none of them had a bed.”
Jason told me this while having coffee. He is 20 years old and experiencing homelessness. I am his GED tutor and we work together on the skills he will need to get his high school diploma and continue with his life’s journey. Jason wants to go to college, but for now, he walks all night, and sleeps when he gets to YouthLink in the mornings. After a quick catnap, we work on his studies. His strength fills me with awe. I can’t imagine walking all night to then start studying for a difficult test so that my life could be better. He is one of many young people I meet every week.
How can this be happening in our city? How can we live in a country where 20 year olds walk all night because they can’t find a shelter or afford a place to sleep? It happens every night in Minneapolis.
On Monday, October 17, at 9 a.m., the process of finding a bed will get easier for the Jasons of our city who walk all night, sleep under an overpass, or in a camp along the river. A program called Adult Shelter Connect will open at St. Olaf Catholic Church, 215 South 8th Street in Minneapolis. This system is the first of its kind in Minneapolis and it could dramatically change the life of someone experiencing homelessness.
St. Olaf will be open seven days a week, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sunday from 1 p.m. through 5:30 p.m. When someone walks in looking for shelter, they will be matched with a worker who will do a short intake interview to assess vulnerability and need. Each person will get a picture ID card, based on the interview, and that will be used to match them to the best available bed. Once they get a bed, they will keep that bed while being assisted to find more permanent housing, jobs, education, health care, whatever is needed. If someone is in need during times other than those listed, they will be able to call 211 and receive the same type of help.
This system will be a ‘one stop shop’ for people needing shelter. As the season changes to colder and colder nights, the need becomes even more immediate, and not knowing where to go or how to access help will be less problematic and less onerous for someone who is already coping with enormous life stresses. It will no longer be necessary to stand in line every night, hoping the shelter has a bed. Once you talk with someone at St. Olafs and are given a bed, no more lines. When you show up that night at the assigned shelter, you will be given the bed assigned to you earlier in the day.
There will be an increase in affordable units built in Minneapolis in 2016 with about 1000 new rentals due to hit the market this year. However, that is far short of the 4200 new units needed every year to keep up with demand, according to an analysis by Thomas O'Neil, a Vice President at Dougherty Mortgage in Minneapolis.
We know that there has been an unprecedented apartment building boom, but the vast majority of those new units have been luxury apartments in downtown Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. Rents far exceed the affordable market.
If this works as well as it is planned, the Jasons of our city will no longer have to walk all night looking for shelter. Jason will not need to try to figure out a difficult system on his own. He can go to St. Olaf and find all the help he will need to sleep in a warm bed. Doesn’t every human being deserve the dignity of a safe place to sleep?
Claudia can be reached at claudia@millcitymedia.org
