Anoka County Moves $613,500 Into Homelessness Prevention as State Aid Expands

On a winter morning in late January, with housing insecurity rising quietly across the north metro, the Anoka County Board of Commissioners took a unanimous vote that carried both urgency and consequence.

On January 27, 2026, the board approved $613,500 in homeless-prevention contracts to two local nonprofit providers, drawing from Minnesota’s Local Homeless Prevention Aid program, a state initiative designed to stop housing loss before it becomes a crisis. The action directs $412,500 to Mediation & Restorative Services in Blaine and $201,000 to Family Promise in Anoka County, with contracts running from February 1 through December 31, 2026.

The funding flows through the county’s Community Social Services and Behavioral Health Department, which was certified this year to receive $1.484 million under the state’s Local Homeless Prevention Aid program. The vote ensures that two key access points for families at risk of eviction or homelessness remain operational after the expiration of earlier state grants.

A state program built around prevention

Local Homeless Prevention Aid, administered by the Minnesota Department of Revenue, was created by the Legislature in 2021 with a direct mandate: help local governments ensure that no child experiences homelessness within their jurisdiction.

The program distributes $20 million statewide each year using a formula that weighs general population alongside the number of students identified as homeless under the federal McKinney-Vento Act during the prior three school years. For 2026, Anoka County’s allocation ranks among the largest in Minnesota, reflecting a high concentration of housing-insecure families and school-age children.

Unlike emergency shelter funding, LHPA is explicitly preventive. Counties may use the dollars to fund rental assistance, eviction mediation, legal support, case management, and other interventions intended to keep families housed or rapidly stabilize them before displacement becomes prolonged.

Restoring services lost to earlier funding cuts

Board materials frame the January action as a restoration as much as an expansion.

In the prior biennium, Anoka County received more than $1.55 million in Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program funding through Minnesota Housing, allowing the county to contract with multiple nonprofit providers. When those funds tightened for the 2025–2027 cycle, only three of five previously approved providers could be retained. Both Mediation & Restorative Services and Family Promise were left unfunded despite demonstrated demand.

The new LHPA contracts re-establish those services for 2026, ensuring continuity for families already navigating housing instability.

Two approaches, one objective

The approved contracts reflect two complementary strategies along the homelessness-prevention continuum.

Mediation & Restorative Services, based in Blaine, focuses on upstream intervention. Under its $412,500 contract, MARS will provide eviction mediation and conflict-resolution services designed to resolve disputes between tenants and landlords before they reach housing court. County staff describe this work as cost-effective prevention: keeping households stable by addressing the disputes, miscommunications, or short-term financial shocks that often precipitate eviction filings.

Family Promise in Anoka County, headquartered in Coon Rapids, concentrates on families with children who are already experiencing or imminently facing homelessness. Its $201,000 contract supports shelter services and housing stabilization, including case management that helps families transition into permanent housing. The funding coincides with the organization’s continued expansion in the county, including the development of an eight-unit guest house in Coon Rapids expected to be fully operational in 2026.

Why timing mattered

The contracts took effect February 1, just weeks after the board’s vote, a deliberate choice by county leaders.

By acting early in the calendar year, the board ensured there would be no service gaps for families already engaged with providers. County officials emphasized that prevention works best when supports are predictable and immediate, rather than episodic or delayed by administrative transitions.

Of the $1.484 million Anoka County received through LHPA this year, the $613,500 approved on January 27 represents a substantial share, signaling a strategic decision to prioritize eviction prevention and family stabilization as core responses to housing insecurity.

A quiet vote with lasting impact

The board’s unanimous approval passed without dramatic debate, but its implications are significant. Each avoided eviction reduces pressure on emergency shelters, schools, and courts. Each stabilized family preserves continuity for children whose education is often disrupted by housing loss.

As Minnesota’s housing affordability challenges continue to ripple outward from urban centers, Anoka County’s use of Local Homeless Prevention Aid illustrates how state policy is translating into local action, not through sweeping declarations, but through contracts, providers, and early intervention.

For families on the edge of losing their homes, the January vote may never be remembered by name. But for the hundreds of households likely to be served through these agreements in 2026, it could mark the difference between displacement and stability, between crisis and continuity, between being counted and being housed.

MinneapoliMedia