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Case for Support

Updated May 14th, 2008

We can and should end homelessness in all communities throughout Minnesota!

We call on you, your insight and your innovation, to join us in our effort to end homelessness in Minnesota. It will take commitment and collaboration. But we believe that ending homelessness is a goal well within the capacity of Minnesotans to accomplish, and certainly more modest than many of our state’s achievements.

We should, we can,and we will BRING MINNESOTA HOME!

Q. Should we end homelessness in Minnesota?

  • More than 9,200 people experience homelessness each night in Minnesota.1 An additional 12,700 are at risk of losing their housing in the immediate future. 2
  • Approximately 37 percent of persons experiencing homelessness are children and youth. 3
    • Children who experience homelessness are more likely to have poor physical and emotional health, developmental delays, and low school performance. 4
    • The number one predictor of whether someone will end up homeless as an adult is whether they were homeless as a child. 5
  • According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition Minnesota has the worst rental affordability of all 12 Midwestern states. Based on locally-adjusted wage and rent information, the report says that minimum wage earners in Minnesota would need to work 96 hours per week to afford an average two bedroom apartment. No other Midwestern state required as many hours of work for a comparable apartment.6
  • The list of occupations whose average wage cannot afford a two bedroom apartment includes: ambulance driver, cashier, home health aide, medical records technician, school bus driver, and teacher aide. 7

A. Yes, we should end homelessness in Minnesota!

By bringing Minnesota home, we will stabilize the lives of individuals, families, and communities. We’ll strengthen the economic vitality of this state when we provide housing affordable to all of our workers and for people on fixed incomes. We will build a strong foundation for our future by ensuring that the needs of our children and youth are met in their formative years. Working together, we will BRING MINNESOTA HOME!

Q. Can we end homelessness in Minnesota?

  • Certainly we cannot stop tornadoes, floods, and house fires from causing people to become homeless temporarily; we can, however, minimize the impact of this situational homelessness and eliminate systemic homelessness from our way of life.
  • Minnesota has a long tradition of innovative programs that have provided us the intellect and experience needed to build long-term solutions. We were among the first to design and implement:
    • Transitional housing
    • Family homeless prevention programs
    • Host-home program for gay youth
    • AIDS transitional housing
    • Housing Trust Fund
  • Minnesota has well-established government agencies that have proven track records in the issues of homelessness and affordable housing. We, as a state, CANNOT afford to NOT end homelessness:
    • The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has demonstrated national leadership in its creative approach to providing affordable housing
    • The Interagency Task Force on Homelessness promotes coordination and efficient programming across agencies
  • We cannot, as a state, afford to NOT end homelessness:
    • A recent Minnesota study found that the public costs associated with housing a long-term homeless family were less than half of the public cost of not providing housing. 8
    • In Hennepin County, family transitional housing services are 93 percent effective in keeping families out of shelter for 12 months at an average cost of $4,124 (the cost of sheltering the same families for a year is approximately $33,200). 9
    • Dakota County estimates that a typical episode of homelessness for a family of three costs $12,000; whereas preventing the episode of homelessness costs only $1,600. 10
    • Bemidji’s YouthBuild program has a 60 percent success rate in working with at-risk youth by training them in building construction at a cost of $20,000 per student per year versus the cost of incarcerating these youth at a cost of $36,000 per year. 11
  • The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has demonstrated national leadership in its creative approach to providing affordable housing. The Interagency Task Force on Homelessness promotes coordination and efficient programming across agencies.

A. Yes, we can end homelessness in Minnesota!

We have the most extensive research in the country on the population experiencing homelessness. 12 Collaborative efforts between service providers, persons experiencing homelessness, and faith-based communities have lead to the creation of innovative programs. Elected officials of each of our parties have been instrumental in implementing and funding these programs. We have the resources, the intellect, the compassion, and the leadership necessary to end homelessness in Minnesota.

Working together, We can BRING MINNESOTA HOME!

Q. How will we end homelessness in Minnesota?

Together we will build on years of research, experience, and ingenuity to tackle the paths that lead people into homelessness; we invite you to join us in shifting the state’s effective homeless response programs into thinking proactively about large-scale homelessness prevention.

By blocking the path to homelessness (e.g. reshaping welfare reform, discharge planning, nursing home closings, and preparing for economic slow-downs), we will stop the flow of individuals and families becoming homeless.

A. We will end homelessness in Minnesota TOGETHER!

Everyone must do his or her part to end homelessness in Minnesota. Here are some ideas of what you can do to help BRING MINNESOA HOME!:

  • Advocating for significant increases in resources and for policies that will prevent homelessness and create permanent affordable housing solutions;
  • Actively participating in the development of your community’s homeless prevention planning processes (e.g. Comprehensive Plans, Consolidated Plans, Continuum of Care Plans);
  • Educating friends, family, elected officials, and the general public and raising community awareness of the impact of homelessness and of the need to BRING MINNESOTA HOME!;
  • Contributing your insight, wisdom, and experience into developing and implementing the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless’ comprehensive plan to end homelessness.
Bring Minnesota Home: Download a professionally designed handout of the information found on this page.

  1. Wilder Research Center, Homeless in Minnesota 2006: At a glance, April 2007 [back]
  2. Wilder Research Center, Homelessness in Minnesota, March 2004 [back]
  3. Wilder Research Center, Homeless in Minnesota 2006: At a Glance, April 2007 [back]
  4. Family Housing Fund, Children Pay the Price for Homelessness, January 2005 [back]
  5. Wilder Research Center, Minnesota Statewide Survey of People Without Permanent Shelter: Homeless Adults and Children, March 2004 [back]
  6. National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach: 2007 - 2008, 2008 [back]
  7. Family Housing Fund, Working Doesn’t Always Pay For A Home, November 2006 [back]
  8. Hart-Shegos, E., Majestic, S., & Jacox, C. (2000). Financial Implications of Public Interventions on Behalf of a Chronically Homeless Family. Minneapolis, MN. Family Housing Fund. [back]
  9. Hennepin County, FHPAP Report, 1999-2000 [back]
  10. Dakota County, FHPAP Report, 1999-2000 [back]
  11. Based on BICAP’s Youth Build outcome data [back]
  12. Wilder Research Center, Minnesota Statewide Survey of People Without Permanent Shelter, April 2007 [back]