Our Progress

 
Goal 1
Strategy 1.b: Obtain funding to develop congregate care/housing for adults with chronic chemical dependency.
Lead Entity:  Olmsted County Adult and Family Services

 

January 2009- CD Supportive Housing Initiative-Adult Services and HRA are partnering to prepare for application for MHFA building funding in June 2009. Stakeholder group is looking for County Board approval needed to move forward with this application. The group is gathering data to support the cost effectiveness of serving this population with a Housing First and Harm Reduction Model like the San Marco in Duluth, MN.

Goal 2
Strategy 2.a: Obtain funding to renovate/build a single-site housing facility to provide supported housing, and limited emergency housing, for approximately 20 youth (single and those with families).
Lead Entity: LINK Program at the Rochester Area Family Y

 

January 2009  Gary Lueders from HRA and Teresa Byland from Y-LINK  are attending the 08-09 session of the Supportive Housing Institute offered by the Corporation for Supportive Housing in Minneapolis.  This will help position them to apply for MHFA building funding in June 2009.

 

Goal 3
Strategy 3a:  Secure funding for short-term non-sex offender housing options including congregate as well as community scattered sites.
Lead Entity: Dodge-Fillmore-Olmsted (DFO) Community Corrections

 

April 2009 -  On December 1, 2008 DFO Community Corrections, in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, opened an 8 bed Transitional Living Center to provide short term housing for offenders being released from prison or the local detention center. Admissions came quickly and the facility was at capacity by mid February. Because demand for this type of housing has been high, the program added 2 additional beds, for a total of 10 beds, on April 1, 2009 The facility is located at the Olmsted County Human Services Campus, in the building that formerly housing the Many Rivers Residential Treatment Center.
The Transitional Living Center is managed and supervised jointly by DFO Community Corrections and ATTIC (Alternatives To Transitional Incarceration of Citizens). Each resident has an assigned agent in DFO Community Corrections who supervises their release from incarceration. DFO Community Corrections staff are frequently onsite at the facility and provide some supervision. ATTIC provides additional staffing including a Resident Manager who oversees the property and residents, making sure each resident understands the rules and expectations of the facility. ATTIC also provides on-site supervision from 6pm to midnight.
Offenders being admitted to the facility are those who have no other alternative for housing and would be homeless. The Transitional Living Center, serves as a landing spot until these offenders can find employment and more permanent housing. The maximum stay at the Transitional Living Center is 90 days. Residents must have 40 hours of structured activity which includes finding employment. The DFO agent supervising each resident makes sure the resident is looking for employment and housing so they can transition from the facility into the community.
While at the facility, residents must contribute to the cost of their stay. Depending on their release status and their source of income, this may be a reduced fee for the first month, but after 30 days, all residents are expected to pay rent of $450 a month. Residents are expected to do all of the cleaning of the facility. They must provide their own food and do their own cooking.
Since opening December 1, 2008 there have been 16 residents admitted to the facility. 3 residents have been able to successfully transition out of the facility to appropriate housing in the community. 3 residents have been returned to prison for parole violations. The Transitional Living Center serves to prevent homelessness and improve the chance that offenders can integrate back into the community successfully.

 

Goal 4
Strategy 4.a:  Establish a process where proponents of housing options can coordinate their efforts at public hearings and/or neighborhood meetings to share information, address concerns, and alleviate fears.
Lead Entity: Olmsted Community Action Program

 

January 2009- CAP staff continue efforts to engage local leaders and housing advocates interested in speaking at neighborhood meetings.

 

Goal 5
Strategies:
5.a - Build upon existing partnerships with the Department of Human Services/State of Minnesota to address new, coordinated ways of funding housing and services.
5.b - Leverage funding opportunities through public-private initiatives such as "Heading Home."
5.c - Advocate for changes in the discharge planning practices/policies of the state prison system that improve the effectiveness of local re-entry.

Our goals are to:

  1. Expand resources to fund supportive and outreach services for homeless adults to live in community scattered sites
  2. Develop an on-site housing option for homeless youth and secure funding for supportive and outreach services.
  3. Develop a housing site option with support services for homeless ex-offenders, and expand supportive services for other offenders in generic scattered-site housing.
  4. Build neighborhood support for housing solutions.
  5. Increase and leverage public investment and promote affirmative public policies that sustain adequate housing and support services for persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. 

 

Results

Adults

October 2008: The new Washington Village building will have four units for homeless.  Shery Block states that since the Homeless Services Team program began, they have been full in a short period of time along with The Francis and Castleview.  There is a great need in our community.

Youth

October 2008  YLINK along with HRA are working on an application for a shelter for youth. It is an extensive application process and takes more than a year.  They are also hoping for more supportive service dollars as well.

Homeless Ex-Offenders 

April 2009  Admissions came quickly and the facility was at capacity by mid February. Because demand for this type of housing has been high, the program added 2 additional beds, for a total of 10 beds, on April 1, 2009 The facility is located at the Olmsted County Human Services Campus, in the building that formerly housed the Many Rivers Residential Treatment Center.

 

 

Chronic Alcoholics 

July 2008 Received a two-year grant to hire two outreach workers to work with homeless and chemically dependant individuals.