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Local organizations look to make impact on rising rural homelessness

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The Minnesota Homeless Study, conducted every three years, is apoint-in-time study aimed at better understanding the prevalence of homelessness in Minnesota, as well as the circumstances of those experiencing homelessness. The data and analysis from the study equip users with the information they need to identify and address systemic issues, improve programs and policies, and ultimately eliminate homelessness.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded NE CoC and KOOTASCA a $352,280 grant for case management services in International Falls and an increase in apartments in Itasca County.

GRAND RAPIDS — An increase in homelessness in rural Minnesota is at a critical level.

The combination of the dearth of affordable housing and overall housing stock, low wages and a lack of infrastructure is taking a toll — not just on people, but the economy of northern Minnesota.

Cara Oakland from the Northeast Minnesota Continuum of Care, or NE CoC, and Kyle Erickson from the Blandin Foundation talked with Heidi Holtan on KAXE’s Morning Show on Friday, March 24.

To put it frankly, there's not enough housing for everyone who needs it."
Cara Oakland, NE CoC

Oakland said the reality of the rural situation is there isn't enough housing for everyone who needs it. There’s a less than 1% vacancy rate in northern Minnesota, she said, where a healthy market features a 5% to 7% vacancy rate.

“People end up being homeless. We like to call it houseless," Oakland said. "We have, in any given year, about 700 people in the NE CoC who seek help from homeless programs."

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded NE CoC and KOOTASCA a $352,280 grant for case management services in International Falls and an increase in apartments in Itasca County.

This was in part due to a one-time, $10,000 Blandin Foundation grant for consulting and writing of the grant proposal.

The economic impact is one of the reasons Blandin leaders say they're working toward what they call “community wealth building.” That work involves capacity building for small nonprofits in the region.

Blandin Foundation CEO Tuleah Palmer, in an opinion piece for the Star Tribune, wrote, “Workforce challenges impact all corners of the state. Northeastern Minnesota, for example, has two jobs open for every available worker, along with higher poverty and a lower median income than the state average — a situation even worse for Native residents.”

A Blandin Foundation news release reported that of $1.9 billion in philanthropic dollars in Minnesota in 2019, just 9% went to rural organizations.

“Decision-making privilege in large population centers are not very fair to rural communities," Erickson said. "So we’re taking that higher level look at how we can lace all that together and give rural communities what they need to be strong."

Success in life is almost impossible without a place to live, Erickson said, and being without a home limits educational goals, good health outcomes and the economy in general.

There’s a less than 1% vacancy rate in northern Minnesota, where a healthy market features a 5% to 7% vacancy rate.

“So the negative impacts of not having sufficient accessible safe housing are profound and the positive impacts, if we get this right, will be equally profound," Erickson said.

According to the Daily Yonder, in Moorhead, administrators at Minnesota State Community and Technical College have heard of students living on frozen lakes, in makeshift camper communities that double as ice fishing huts.

When Oakland was asked what success would look like, she said, “If somebody experiences homelessness, they are able to access the resources that they need to quickly resolve their housing crisis, get into housing and stay there.”

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