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During the last ten days of January each year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) asks that a “point-in-time” count of those experiencing homelessness be completed. The count is organized by the SW MN Continuum of Care, a housing and services planning group serving as the local entry point for homeless program funding through HUD. The SW MN Continuum of Care is currently lead by the SW MN
Housing Partnership. The group, which meets monthly in Marshall or Willmar, works to track need, secure financial resources, and coordinate regional goals to prevent and end homelessness in 18 counties in
Southwest Minnesota. Information about homeless households is provided via surveys conducted by community action agencies, food shelves, mental health agencies, the Salvation Army, county human and family service agencies, domestic violence programs, school homeless liaisons, law enforcement, veteran service officers, department of corrections staff, public housing programs and housing redevelopment authorities.
The following data are from the “Point-in-Time” counts done in the 18 counties of SW Minnesota for January
2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Numbers represent households, not people. A household could represent an individual, a couple, a parent or parents with children, or homeless unaccompanied youth under 18. The goal of the counts was to identify every household unsheltered or living in a place not meant for human habitation, every household in emergency shelter (often using a motel voucher), every household in a temporary transitional housing program, and every household temporarily doubled up with family or friends due to lost housing. It is not a total of every household homeless in the month or year, but just on one particular night.
Here are the total number of households experiencing homelessness counted in January of the last three years.
1/25/2012 1/23/2013 1/22/2014 1/22/2015
38 36 38 35 Kandiyohi
43
32
25
22
7
20
19 Nobles
16 Lyon
13
15
0
14
3
0
14
18
1
8 McLeod
5 Redwood
5 Chippewa
8
10
3
2
2
0
0
4
0
0
4
0
174
8
6
3
4
2
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
125
6
1
2
3
0
0
3
2
0
0
0
0
115
4 Meeker
3 Jackson
3 Renville
1 Cottonwood
1 Murray
1 Big Stone
0
Yellow
Medicine
0 Rock
0 Lincoln
0 Lac qui Parle
0 Pipestone
0 Swift
101 TOTAL
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SW MN Continuum of Care, All Households Experiencing Homelessness: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015:
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
Transitional Housing
Doubled Up HHs
Emergency Shelter
Unshelered
40
20
0 янв.12
янв.13
янв.14
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SW MN CoC 2015 Counties w/ Most Households Experiencing Homelessness by Household Type
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Kandiyohi Lyon Nobles
Unaccompanied
Youth < 18
Adults Only
Families with
Children
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Here is more detailed data about the top three most populous counties listed above, which are the three counties with the most homeless households counted in 2015:
40
10
5
0
20
15
35
30
25
16
11
9
2
2012
13
13
7
3
2013
11
15
11
1
2014
4
12
9
6
2015
Transitional Housing
"Doubled Up"
Emergency Shelter
Unsheltered
35
30
10
25
20
15
10
5
8
1
12
1
Transitional Housing
"Doubled Up"
Emergency Shelter
Unsheltered
10
5
0
7
5
2012
7
2
2013
7
2014
4
10
4
1
2015

50
45
40
3
35
30
Transitional Housing
25 "Doubled Up"
20
36
4
Emergency Shelter
15 Unsheltered
24
10 15
5
0
7
2012
1
2013 2014 2015
For those households who are have been homeless for less than a year, homelessness could be the result of a job loss, a health crisis, a divorce, a domestic violence situation, or an inability to find affordable housing while doing low-wage work. For those who have been homeless for more than a year, the causes could be a disability, mental illness and/or addiction.
The Southwest MN Continuum of Care group, along with many collaborating agencies, is working to minimize homelessness in Southwest Minnesota and prevent it among those precariously housed. The group aims to identify need and target resources to address needs most efficiently and effectively in the areas of prevention, emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. Collaborating agencies include Western Community Action, Heartland Community Action, Prairie Five Community Action,
Southwestern Minnesota Opportunity Council, the Salvation Army of Willmar, the Salvation Army Extension,
Lutheran Social Services Youth Programs, the Willmar Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Southwest
Minnesota Adult Mental Health Consortium, Southwestern Mental Health Center, County Human and Family
Services Departments, Minnesota Action Council for Veterans, Safe Avenues, Women’s Rural Advocacy
Program, Southwest Crisis Center, Common Cup of Hutchinson, Litchfield Area Ministerial Association,
Marshall Area Ministerial Association, and Volunteers of Mercy. Any individual or agency interested in ending homelessness in southwestern Minnesota is welcome to join.
Continuum of Care member agencies provide housing and coordinate services because stable housing contributes to more employment stability, better school performance for kids, and better physical and mental health. Stable housing also contributes in public savings as less is spent on crisis interventions such as hospitalizations, incarcerations, and emergency motel assistance.
For further details on subpopulations among those experiencing homelessness (e.g. veterans, victims of domestic violence, mentally ill), or on efforts to address homelessness in Southwest Minnesota, contact Justin
Vorbach at justinv@swmhp.org
or (507) 530-2942.
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