|
By Sally Thompson
Sun Newspapers
November 29, 2006
What is your image of a homeless person? Do you picture an older man in a worn-out coat panhandling for money on street corners? Do you think of an adult woman sitting on a street corner with all her possessions piled into bags? Or do you see a bright-eyed child running into school, eager to be with classmates?
The typical perception is that the homeless are mostly adults, but that isn't true, said Leslie Frost, executive director of Families Moving Forward, which provides emergency shelter for families and children.
Half the homeless people in Minnesota are under the age of 18, and half of those under 18 are under the age of 6, Frost told those attending a housing forum at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Medina Nov. 13.
"Children are harmed by homelessness," she said, noting they tend to be both developmentally and academically behind their peers. Also, homeless children more often are physically and emotionally ill.
Statistics also show one of every ten homeless adults also was homeless as a child, Frost said.
The goal of Families Moving Forward is to help the families they serve make the transition so they never will be homeless again, she said.
Every night in Minnesota there are 7,000 people sleeping in homeless shelters and another 1,000 are turned away because there isn't room, said Michael Dahl, executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless.
About 2,000 other people are moving from couch to couch, staying with friends or relatives because they have no homes of their own, he said.
The number of homeless people has grown "tremendously," going from around 1,000 in the mid-1980s to almost 10,000 today, Dahl said.
In the eight-city area served by Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners (IOCP), a total of 635 households were helped in 2006 with emergency housing assistance, preventing those families from becoming homeless, said LaDonna Hoy, executive director of IOCP.
"Many people live absolutely on the edge," she said. "We're seeing more of them more often for longer periods of time than ever before in the 23 years we've been doing this."
Living on the edge takes its toll on families, she said. "Their whole experience is turned toward survival."
IOCP is able to provide from 180 to 190 housing assists per month but has to turn another 30 or so away, Hoy said.
That's why IOCP is seeking to raise $1.7 million during the Sleepout this year. The goal was set so that, if it is reached, IOCP could provide those extra 30 "assists" each month, she said.
"We want to get to the point where we turn no one away," Hoy said.
Money raised by IOCP's Sleepout also has been used to leverage a couple of housing projects that will provide affordable housing in Plymouth and Wayzata, said Kim Vohs, housing director for IOCP.
Four units are being developed in partnership with Habitat for Humanity on Gleason Lake Road in Wayzata, and 50 units of affordable housing are being constructed with CommonBond Communities at County Road 47 and Vicksburg Lane in Plymouth, he said.
Sleepout funds provided $50,000 in seed money for the $850,000 project in Wayzata, and $200,000 in seed money was the impetus for the $9 million project in Plymouth, Vohs said.
"The image a homeless person as someone from the inner city doesn't play out with the people we see," Vohs said.
Because there are no homeless shelters in the west metro area, the homeless sometimes camp in parks, such as Elm Creek Park, or they sleep in cars or move from couch to couch, he said.
"Homelessness isn't just a city problem," Vohs said. "It's here. It's now."
About 60 homeless families or individuals had been helped by IOCP last year, he said.
Habitat for Humanity has helped build 620 homes in the metro area since 1986, said Susan Haigh, president of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
The goal of Habitat is to provide safe and decent shelter for people as a matter of conscience, she said.
For every family Habitat is able to serve, another 10 qualified families have to be turned away, Haigh said.
"The need is quite staggering," she said. "We have families who apply two, three or four times to become Habitat homebuyers."
To qualify, a family has to earn less than 50 percent of the area median income or $27,500 for a family of four. The family also must be living in substandard, overcrowded or unsafe housing and be able to make house payments, she said.
At that income level, families aren't able to go to a normal lender so they are shut out of the housing market, but if they are accepted by Habitat, they are able to get a mortgage with zero percent interest, Haigh said.
Metropolitan Council statistics show that by 2020 the metro area will need 51,000 new affordable lodging units. In Plymouth that would translate to 1,000 more units, she said.
"That's a significant challenge for this community," she said.
|
