Best Practices

Rapid Exit is a nationally-recognized Hennepin County program to move families and individuals quickly out of emergency shelters and into housing. The county works with contracted non-profit agencies to move people out of shelters, as well as to support people transitioning into housing for 6 months.  Rapid Exit Advocates have relationships with roughly 200 landlords who work with their clients and the advocates will match the family or individual to the best available vacancy (based upon the landlord’s risk tolerance and the unit location). The contracted rapid exit agency, along with Hennepin County’s Shelter Team, assures that start-up costs are available as soon as a lease is offered.

Rapid Exit, based on Hennepin County's model, was an integral aspect of the national American Recovery & Reinvestment Act funding of homelessness prevention in 2008 and 2009.

Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program The Family Homelessness Prevention Assistance Program prevents families from becoming homeless, limits instances of homelessness, and prevents instances of homelessness from reoccurring in Minnesota through partnerships between counties and contracted non-profit agencies.

Whenever possible, the program helps families on the verge of homelessness maintain their current housing. In Hennepin County it costs approximately $650 in one-time funds to prevent homelessness for a family, whereas it costs $2,700 to shelter a family of 3 for 30 days.  Prevention is clearly a more cost-efficient strategy.

Permanent Supportive Housing is a model for ending long-term homelessness that is characterized by its integration of both stable housing and supportive services for previously homeless individuals.  Individuals are provided with housing in concert with necessary services, for as long as is required, in order to ensure that they maintain housing stability.

Housing First is a strategy to move people from shelter into their own apartments without first requiring them to address all personal barriers. Once housed, comprehensive services are available to support the client. This is a particularly effective strategy for those long-term homeless adults for whom other efforts have failed. The county has its own Housing First program and some agencies also contract directly with the state to leverage GRH funds for more residents. As of June 2010, there were 409 households housed using the Housing First method, including 173 children and 17 youth.

On-Ramp to Independence is a system-wide initiative to prepare vulnerable youth for adulthood. Targeting youth ages 16 – 21 who are aging out of placement, as well as youth who formerly were in placement but are now homeless, On-Ramp is jointly sponsored by the Hennepin County Human Services & Public Health Department, Juvenile Corrections and Heading Home Hennepin. The goal is to create a more intentional and comprehensive set of services and policies to support adolescents transitioning to adulthood.

On-Ramp to Independence has three priorities: assure that all youth aging out of Hennepin County systems-care have a permanent relationship with at least one committed adult; assure that these youth have the opportunity to learn and practice independent living skills that prepare them for adulthood before they exit care; and assure that youth aging out of care have housing and financial support to meet their basic needs.  To learn more, click here.

Project Homeless Connect (PHC) is a one-stop shop model for delivering services to people experiencing homelessness.  Twice each year, Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis partner with service providers, businesses, citizens, and faith congregations to bring multiple resources to one central location where people can come to access the services they need.  These services include housing, employment, medical care, mental health care, benefits application and legal assistance, eye exams, haircuts, chiropractic care, and dental care, as well as hot meals.  Each event serves thousands of people and brings together more than 1,300 volunteers who work with guests on a one-on-one basis.  To visit the PHC website, click here.

In addition, PHC was the model for two new Opportunity Centers--one for youth and one for adults--that are opening in Hennepin County in 2010.  The Opportunity Centers will function similarly to PHC through the co-location of resources and services, and will operate 5 days per week.  

Frequent User Service Enhancement (FUSE) Program is the result of a 2007 study conducted by Hennepin County which found that 266 individuals used approximately 70,000 nights of stay in shelter, jail, and detox over five years, costing $4.2 million in taxpayer dollars.  In partnership with Hennepin County, St. Stephen's Human Services--a local nonprofit agency--created FUSE, which targets people who are high users of both the single adult shelter system and the criminal justice system.  It uses a Housing First approach and focuses on reducing the involvement of the criminal justice and other government systems that provide emergency services to people experiencing homelessness.  To learn more, click here.

The Currie Avenue Housing Partnership is a Housing First initiative that uses the state of Minnesota's Group Residential Housing (GRH) program to house people with disabilities who are staying in Hennepin County shelters.  It is an unprecedented collaboration between the local faith, business and government sectors, and has raised more than $350,000 to hire Case Managers to move people off the streets, out of shelter and into permanent supportive housing.  To learn more, click here.

Street Outreach works to connect people living outside and on the streets with housing and necessary resources.  Since 2008, the City of Minneapolis, the state of Minnesota, and local foundations have supported a team of outreach workers at St. Stephens Human Services to work in collaboration with the Minneapolis Police Department and the city and county Attorney’s Offices to provide targeted outreach to homeless individuals and families in downtown Minneapolis. From October 2007 through December 2010, the outreach team has housed over 225 people directly from the street, mostly without subsidies. Outreach staff has access to the downtown security community’s RadioLink and can be dispatched to 911 calls when appropriate in order to intervene with a human services response rather than a criminal justice response. Police records indicate a 14 percent reduction in arrests for people with no permanent address between 2008 and 2009.  To learn more, click here.