On January 22, 2025, researchers for Hennepin County found 2,652 people staying in temporary, transitional shelter and another 427 living outside on the streets, under bridges, or in encampments. Certainly, that’s way too many people still hoping for home, still searching for a place to call their own. Yet these numbers show improvement over the 2024 numbers of 3,370 in shelter and 496 outside. In fact, unsheltered homelessness has decreased 33.5% since 2020, when 624 people were found to be struggling to survive outside in the cold.
Hennepin County must be doing something right. County leaders point to their corps of “Streets to Housing” workers who don’t just count the people they find struggling outside, but who also continue to troubleshoot with them in the shelter situation and to coach them through all the difficult one-step-forward, two-steps-backwards experiences of qualifying for supportive housing appropriate to their needs. During the Adult Forum, we will be playing a simulation game that highlights all the transportation, technology, and scheduling requirements that complicate navigating the system of services for people seeking a place to call home, called ‘You’re Not in Candyland Anymore!’
Can Hennepin County continue to make progress towards the goal of ending homelessness, or at least making it rare, brief, and non-recurring? Given recent budget cuts and staff reductions at both the state and federal levels, and sadly, given the fraudulent use of Medical Assistance claims by some dishonest service providers, the hopeful progress of the last five years faces some major challenges. These challenges make it all the more important that faith communities, charitable organizations, and advocacy coalitions step up to understand what’s happening: who’s being hurt, what’s needed, and what can be done to meet the need?
Throughout the Sabbath to End Homelessness weekend, Align Central will be offering opportunities to find answers to these questions through prayers in worship, displays in the Great Room, the game simulation at the Adult Forum, and at Empowering Conversations, where we will welcome David Hewitt, Director of Housing Stability for Hennepin County.