Minneapolis joins federal initiative to combat homelessness

By KSTP
(KSTP/FILE)

The city of Minneapolis has joined a federal initiative to fight homelessness.

The initiative, House America, is led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), which are working with city, county and state leaders across the country to help focus resources so they have the greatest impact in addressing the homelessness crisis.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office said Friday that he’d joined the initiative on the city’s behalf. The city is also working with Hennepin County to address the housing crisis, saying they’ve committed $156.5 million in funding for housing and homelessness since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

House America is set to run through the end of 2022, with a national goal of re-housing at least 100,000 households experiencing homelessness, while also adding 20,000 new units of affordable housing.

In that same time, Minneapolis and Hennepin County officials say they’re aiming to re-house 1,000 homeless households and add 1,196 new affordable housing units.

According to city officials, they’ve closed on five projects since the House America initiative started in September, totaling 194 affordable housing units — units for households earning 30% of the area median income or below, which equates to $22,050 for a single person or $31,450 for a family of four in Minneapolis. Those five projects are:

  • Bloom Lake Flats in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood – closed in October 2021
  • 3301 Nicollet in the Whittier neighborhood – closed October 2021
  • Peregrine in the Hawthorne neighborhood – closed in December 2021
  • The Flats at Malcolm Yards in the Prospect Park neighborhood – closed in January 2022
  • Bimosedaa in the Downtown West neighborhood – closed in March 2022

Bloom Lake Flats and 3301 Nicollet are expected to be finished and start leasing early in 2023. The last three projects are estimated to be finished and start leasing in the spring or summer of 2023.

The city also says 258 households in Minneapolis and Hennepin County have left homelessness to permanent housing since the start of 2022.