Regional Long-Term Homeless Projects

Hearth Connection worked with the State and many community stakeholders on the development of the Minnesota Business Plan to End Long-Term Homelessness. The State created a new Long-Term Homeless Supportive Service Fund in the 2005 Legislative Session to finance support services needed to provide supportive housing for people with long histories of homelessness. Hearth Connection worked with seven counties and three bands of the Chippewa Nation in Northeastern Minnesota, and twelve counties in Southern Minnesota to plan multi-county regional collaboratives that would build on the work of the Supportive Housing and Managed Care Pilot while responding to local resources and local needs. Hearth Connection also applied to manage a Twin Cities metropolitan project on behalf of the seven metro counties.

In March 2006, the State awarded funding for five regional long-term homeless projects, including the three managed by Hearth Connection. Hearth Connection now manages a network of 17 mobile supportive service teams and a growing network of site-based supportive housing providers.

Northeastern Minnesota Regional Long-Term Homeless Project. Seven counties (Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake and St. Louis) and three bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (Bois Forte, Fond du Lac and Grand Portage) have a collaborative agreement to operate a project focused on Native Americans experiencing long-term homelessness in Northeastern Minnesota. St. Louis County is the lead county and serves as fiscal agent with the Minnesota Department of Human Services. St. Louis County maintains a contract with Hearth Connection to manage the project.

Mobile supportive service staff are located at Nett Lake, Hibbing and Grand Rapids, Fond du Lac, Cloquet and Duluth. In addition, four site-based supportive housing communities participate: Perpich Apartments in Hibbing; and House of the Phoenix, Women’s Community Development and the New San Marco in Duluth. 80 households participate in the project, which began operation in the fall of 2006.

Metro Regional Long-Term Homeless Project. Seven counties making up the Twin Cities metropolitan area have a collaborative agreement to operate a metro-wide long-term homeless project (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington). Hennepin County is the fiscal agent and contracts with Hearth Connection to manage the project.

Hearth Connection has contracts with seven mobile supportive service teams, including three that started as service providers in Hearth Connection’s Pilot. There is one team focused on unaccompanied youth, two teams supporting families, and four teams working with single adults. In addition, Hearth Connection is developing a network of site-based supportive housing communities. One goal of the metro project is to support participant choice in housing by offering a broad range of housing options, including both private market scattered-site housing and site-based supportive housing. 100 households in the Metro area were part of the Pilot project, and an additional 220 households began participating in the summer of 2006. We are currently able to serve up to 350 households in the Metro Regional project.

Southern Minnesota Regional Long-Term Homeless Project. Twelve counties in South Central and Southeastern Minnesota collaborate to operate a long-term homeless project across Southern Minnesota. Blue Earth County serves as the fiscal agent and contracts with Hearth Connection to manage the project.

Hearth Connection works with mobile supportive service teams in three regional hubs: Mankato, Owatonna and Rochester. Each hub has a slightly different focus, but collectively they have the ability to support families, single adults and youth from both these urban centers as well as rural areas in the region. 50 households in the Southern region were part of the Pilot project, and an additional 80 households began participating in the summer of 2006.