Minneapolis Mayor Frey, Lt. Gov. Flanagan highlight progress with 3 Minneapolis shelters
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Tuesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Hennepin County Board Chair Marion Greene and Commissioner Angela Conley highlighted the progress being made toward building three new shelter and housing sites for people experiencing homelessness.
The state, city and county leaders were joined by Tim Marx from Catholic Charities and Mike Goze from the American Indian Community Development Corporation.
"Housing should be a right," Frey said during a news conference Tuesday morning. "Everyone deserves a sustained place to sleep at night."
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Frey said the shelters are being funded with $8.3 million in city funds, $9.3 million from Hennepin County and $1.8 million in matching funds from the state. The allocation of city funds was approved last week by the Policy and Government Oversight (POGO) Committee and the full city council will vote on the matter this week.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. [KSTP]
The housing units include an investment of over $24 million from the state in Housing Infrastructure Bonds and $4 million from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund as well as utilizing over $25 million of the city’s Housing Revenue Bonding allocation.
Across the three sites – the culturally specialized shelter for Native Americans, proposed by American Indian Community Development Center (AICDC), Exodus 2 and the Gordon Center site – there will be 167 units for housing and a minimum of 110 shelter beds, according to the city.
The shelter proposed by AICDC, located at 2012 Cedar Avenue at the intersection of Cedar and Franklin avenues, will provide culturally-sensitive shelter and services for Native individuals experiencing homelessness. The shelter will receive about $1.8 million in city funds (pending city council approval) for operations, matched by $1.8 million in state operating funding and $3.5 million in capital funding from the county.
Exodus 2, located at 1007 East 14th Street, will provide deeply affordable housing for those experiencing homelessness – including units specifically for those who are medically vulnerable and units for veterans, along with 30 medical respite shelter beds. For the shelter component, the Exodus site will receive about $2 million in city shelter funds and $5 million in county funds. For the housing component, Minnesota Housing allocated $23.4 million in Housing Infrastructure Bonds, the largest investment in a project ever made by the state’s Housing Agency. The city is also investing $4 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in the housing component, as well as utilizing over $25 million of Minneapolis’ allocation of Housing Revenue Bonds.
Finally, the Gordon Center site, located at 2220 16th Avenue North in the Willard-Hay neighborhood of north Minneapolis, will provide shelter for women experiencing homelessness. The Gordon Center will receive approximately $4.4 million in city funds and $800,000 in operating funds from the county.
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