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Anoka County is requesting state and federal dollars to continue two homelessness assistance programs.
The Anoka County Board March 28, on the recommendation of its Human Services Committee, approved applying, accepting and entering into a grant contract with the Minnesota Department of Human Services for homelessness assistance funds totaling up to $1.6 million for a two-year period starting July 1.
This request is to continue grants first approved by the state human services agency in 2021, said Cindy Cesare, the county’s human services officer. But there is no guarantee the county will get all the money it is asking for.
“It’s a competitive process, but we sure hope we do,” Cesare said.
The number of homeless people in the county has grown as a result of the COVID pandemic.
“People are struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
The grants are funded with state and federal dollars with no county money required, County Commissioner Jeff Reinert said, who chairs the human services committee.
One pot of grant dollars will cover street outreach and the other emergency shelter, Cesare said.
The county’s Heading Home Anoka Housing Coalition, which comprises county staff and local providers of support for homeless people in the county, has identified street outreach and emergency shelter as significant areas of need.
According to a report to the county board by Timothy Carroll, grants and contracts coordinator in the county social services and behavioral health department, the county initially received $480,000 in homeless assistance grant money to pay for street outreach services, for which Guild Inc. was hired to provide.
Guild is a St. Paul-based not-for-profit agency providing housing, health and employment services, its website states.
In the past 16 months, Guild has contacted 100 households “living in a setting not meant for human habitation, providing resources and navigation services as well as meeting some of the household’s basic needs,” Carroll wrote. In that time, Guild has assisted 99 households in obtaining shelter.
Carroll said that the county had previously received $702,000 for emergency hotel beds through the department’s housing help desk and although it started during the pandemic, the program continued to provide emergency hotel shelter for 55 households in 2022 and early 2023 with 34 households transitioning to stable, affordable housing.
The funding for the outreach program ends June 30 and Sept. 30 for the emergency hotel shelter project, Carroll wrote.
The board also took action March 28 to approve a contract with Hope4Youth for a youth outreach, supportive services and direct rental/deposit assistance program after the county received an additional $35,100 through the state’s Family Homelessness and Prevention Assistance Program.
The county originally contracted with Hope4Youth for these services as part of the 2021-2023 FHPAP grant cycle, but it had to be dropped because there was not enough grant dollars, according to Jennifer Crotteau, program specialist.
The county currently does not have dedicated youth outreach services, but it remains a priority for the Heading Home Anoka Housing Coalition, which recommended these dollars be used for the program, Crotteau wrote in a report to the board.
Under the contract, Hope4Youth will provide a full-time youth street outreach worker to identify and engage youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability, connect 35 families to mainstream and Hope4Youth resources and offer direct rental and deposit assistance for 10 families who are homeless.
The contract runs from May 1 through Sept. 30 when the current FHPAP grant cycle expires, Cesare said.
“We are hoping we get FHPAP dollars to continue the program beyond that time,” she said.
According to its website, Hope4Youth is a nonprofit organization in Anoka County that helps young people ages 16 to 24 experiencing homeless with housing, outreach, prevention and education/employment services that include a drop-in center in Anoka and a 12-unit transitional housing facility in Coon Rapids that serves 18-24 year olds.
SOURCE: Hometown Source
