Half Hour with Haven Housing: Homelessness Shouldn't Be A Family Affair

Unknown: Okay Mary Dedeaux-Swinton: Good afternoon and welcome. Thank you for joining us for a Half Hour with Haven Housing. I am Mary Dedeaux-Swinton and I serve on the board of directors of Haven Housing. 2021 marked for decades of service for Haven Housing and we will continue to be North Minneapolis' provider of shelter and housing for women and families in need of refuge, stability and opportunity. In these last 40 years, Haven Housing has had the honor of serving nearly 15,000 people. So,

today we'll be busting a few myths surrounding homelessness but first we want to share a short video that will help you understand why we do the work that we do the work to support women and their families and their children as they stabilize, heal from trauma identify their strengths and opportunities for growth and independence and create a more hopeful future. Video Voiceover: Look. Now drop your shoulders. Take a breath. Slow down. Look again. What do you see? A problem, a person, potential?

Look again. Video Voiceover 2: Will this define me? Or is this just one chapter in my story? Video Voiceover 3: Today I feel broken. But I have not given up. Video Voiceover 4: But I have not given up. Video Child Voiceover: My home is where my mom and I feel safe. I love waking up in a warm bed. I don't feel scared anymore. Video Child Voiceover 2: I don't feel scared anymore. Video Voiceover 5: My past and my current situation do not, will not decide my value. My potential. Video Voiceover 3:

My home is not only where I live, but where I can heal. Video Voiceover 2: I can finally focus on my future Video Voiceover 4: I can finally focus on my future Video Voiceover: There is a place for families in crisis to feel safe and supported. A place where people in transition can find acceptance. A place where people can heal from trauma and begin again. Today, there are more than 6700 unhoused people in the Twin Cities metro area. Most are children, women and families. How can we write a ho

peful future for our city? Where everyone feels supported by their community, everyone knows they have value, everyone has a place to heal, grow, and dream; and feel encouraged and safe. Where everyone has a haven. Mary Dedeaux-Swinton: I'm so proud of the work that Haven Housing does. And I hope from the video that you could get a sense for the future that we are working to create. Now, we're joined this afternoon by Monica Nilsson, the executive director of Haven Housing, who will guide us thr

ough our discussion. If you happen to have any questions along the way, you can raise your hand using the little Zoom hand, or you can put your questions in the chat. Now, over to Monica. Monica Nilsson: Thank you so much, Mary. And I am very proud of that video and all of the program participants who offered to be a part of that work. I am joined by Randi who is here with us as a community educator with Haven Housing. And she will share just a bit of her story in a few minutes. And following Ra

ndi, we will have a bit of time for your questions as well, and then wrap up at 12:30. So let's start with one of the myths I hear very often, that people choose to be homeless. Have you ever heard that? It's one of the most common questions I get along with panhandling, and that men are the majority of those who are homeless. Next slide, please. So, when Minnesotans conduct a thorough study of who was homeless every three years through Wilder Research, we get a really good picture of the realit

y. And the reality is that if we took all homeless Minnesotans and made them 100 people, 10 are age 55 and older. 32 are children with parents. 15 are what we call unaccompanied young adults, older teenagers, those who are on their own, and 43 are in that age range of 25 to 54. So we experienced about 20,000 people in Minnesota each night, who are experiencing housing instability. And as you can see, the majority are children and young adults. Next slide. So another myth, people experiencing hom

elessness are only downtown St. Paul or Minneapolis, or they're coming from another state or country. Have you ever heard that one? Next slide. The reality is that in Minnesota about 1/3, according to our data, of those experiencing homelessness are from St. Paul and Minneapolis. 1/3 are from Minnesota's suburbs combined, and 1/3 are from greater or rural Minnesota. And I think as we talk here, we'll talk about why people might think it's only downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul. Next slide, please

. So with regard to families experiencing homelessness, I often hear well, they're all women who have kids. And I do want to recognize now that our current data shows that fully 30% of families experiencing homelessness dad is there. In a quarter of our families, it's a two parent family. And in 5% of families dad is taking care of the kids on his own. This image I took when I was operating a shelter in Dakota County, and we allowed husbands and wives or couples to sleep next to each other versu

s in many settings where the men are separated from the women. Next slide. So what got us to this place, having the fewer supportive and group housing options. That a full time job no longer guarantees you can pay for housing, food clothes thing and other basic needs. Urban renewal. We used to have a skid row downtown Minneapolis in the Washington Avenue corridor. And that was all torn down in the 1960s. Losing 4000 small room units. And then, criminalizing substance use disorder or the war on d

rugs. This image was when Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Flanagan took some time to come out with me under the bridges and meeting folks in shelters. This was under the Robert Street Bridge in St. Paul. Next slide, please. So at Haven Housing, our vision is first of all a respite from crisis. Next slide. We when we look at the housing continuum, people now sadly are more aware of those who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness and Haven Housing serves. Some of those families are women

in our emergency shelter called St. Anne's, or in our temporary supportive housing Ascension Place. We also operate permanent supportive housing scattered throughout the Hennepin County area. And some of our households are receiving subsidized rent to meet the gap between their income and the cost of a place to live these days. You may also recognize that we have assisted homeownership and market rate rentals that we are not so much a part of on the homeownership but we do have households who m

ove into market rate rentals once they build their income. Next slide. So at Haven Housing, many people ask how do they how do people get into shelter or housing. And in Hennepin County, which is where we are located, families come to us through the county through a family shelter referral system. So it's not the case that a family can just drive up or walk up to the door and get into shelter. And that has its pros and cons. For our Ascension Place, women can self refer, they may be referred fro

m a chemical or mental health treatment center, or they may come referred from a case manager either at Shakopee prison or at another setting where they're looking for a stable community. Our Next Step Housing, people are coming through a federally mandated process called Coordinated Entry. And it's meant to streamline people. So if I needed a place to live, instead of me having to call 70 different places, those 70 places are communicating to the county, what openings they have. And then, based

on my assessment, there's ideally a good fit that is a referral for me to try to stabilize in housing. Unfortunately, we find that the balance of housing units available and what my needs might be, are imbalanced. And so practically speaking, we are challenged sometimes with finding the right housing setting for someone's needs. Next slide, please. So before we move into a little bit of our discussion, for the next 15 minutes, I want to mention how you can help. Well, you're starting right now,

I often say that your learning is of service to us. And hopefully after this short time, you might email me or call and say, what about this myth, or two weeks from now when you're having dinner with family or friends, and they come up with some comment, you can always contact me and get information to help dispel myths. Building awareness is really the first way that we can address these challenges. So I appreciate that you learn today and tell people about what the reality of homelessness is

and about Haven Housing. Please follow us on social media and like or share the work that we do. And if you know someone who is interested in this work, we are always looking for good people to get involved involved either as a staff person or a volunteer, so connecting them to us. Providing financial support. Most of our work is people work. It is the work of relationships. And I think COVID has taught us that after having our health, having positive relationships is key to our well being. And

so the work that our staff does with women and families to help improve their well being is people work that needs financial support. We are having a community cleanup. So if you're in the area and want to just helped make the neighborhood more beautiful, on Saturday, April 23, we will be out and about in the Broadway Avenue corridor. And you can learn more about that in our website. But I've bought lots of garbage pickers because it's one of my favorite things to do as a meditative practice and

encourage you to come and grab a picker and grab a bagel and spend some time with our program participants and staff and neighbors, making the neighborhood more beautiful. And with that I'm going to bring back Randi. Randi is one of the people in our organization who helps in this work to educate the public. And we're grateful for all the ways that Randi and other program participants helped share some first person accounts of what they do. Welcome, Randi. Randi: Thank you. I wrote something ju

st to because I get nervous so. I'm 39 years old. I've experienced homelessness in many forms and in many different environments. It started as a teenager, my home wasn't always safe. So I stayed with different friends and their families. As an adult, homelessness look different. In rural Minnesota, there are no homeless shelters. I usually lived in abandoned or condemned properties, usually without water and power, and bathed in rivers or lakes. It's actually usually pretty hard to spot a homel

ess person in the rural areas unless you know them. In urban areas, homelessness looks different. It's easier to spot a homeless person. I have slept in tents in parks, on sidewalks next to busy freeways. And as a single parent, I was homeless, and my son and I couch hopped, and we lived in shelters. It has been a long road. But with support a safe roof over my head, I have been able to complete trauma therapy and have been clean for over three years. And I just finished my peer recovery support

training. So I actually choose thank you so I can help support others in their journey. Monica Nilsson: Thank you, Randi. We're very proud of you. Randi: Thank you. Monica Nilsson: Before we open up to a few questions, let me just ask you what helped you have an improved well being? Randi: Um, definitely support. Support is number one. Support without judgment. Meeting me where I needed to be. Trauma therapy was huge. I had compound trauma since I was a kid in that, that just kind of perpetuat

ed my my issues. Yeah, and opportunities. Opportunities working with you guys that Haven Housing you've given me so much confidence in my, in my life as I'm growing through this changes, and it's pretty awesome. Yeah, support is probably the biggest one, without judgment. And, of course, my awesome family. Monica Nilsson: So one more question. And then I want to open it up. I see some longtime friends in the group here. So nice to see you. Why do you think everybody thinks most homeless people a

re men? Randi: Because it's a myth, like it's probably from movies. And so like it kind of gets passed on in your brain. And it's easier to see men. Because women, as women, we try to kind of keep ourselves a little bit, you know, whether we're homeless or not, we try to like we brush our hair or something. It's a confidence thing. So like, you wouldn't even know, from a lot of women, you wouldn't even know they're homeless unless you knew them. That's probably the biggest thing I think. Monica

Nilsson: Yeah. And I will add, I think we can sometimes have minds of judgment. And when we pass a man with a piece of cardboard, it's kind of easy to point and say there's a homeless person, but none of us know how to point to a 12 year old and say there's a homeless person. And so we create kind of brains of judgment about who is homeless and that helps add to the meth. So I think we have time to unmute or if people would like to unmute themselves. And we appreciate you coming today. And eithe

r if you have a myth for us to bust or a proposed myth, or would just like to make a comment, welcome. Mary Dedeaux-Swinton: Hey, don't be shy and everyone, if you have questions, you can come off mute or ask them in the chat. Valerie: I have a question. This is Valerie asking, calling in. I've been told sometimes from my church as well, that money is not the best way to be supportive of a homeless person. And I always feel a little guilty. Thinking that that I would love a recommendation on how

to be gracious and Monica, you taught me to look people in the eye and shake hands and create involvement. Sorry, makes me emotional. But I can't believe that. It's not done. But but how do I as a person and person who wants to be kind and helpful? How do I? How do I interact and and make, make an impact or create some grace for these people? For people that I'm meeting on the street that are homeless? We have a lot in Washington, DC. Thank you. Monica Nilsson: Thanks for that question, Valerie

. And my answer may be different than Randi's or other people here today. So I hope we all each give our answer as we wish. And it's based on our experiences. So for me, because I did a lot of street outreach and saw how cash can keep people in a really unhealthy place who are unsheltered. The first thing I suggest people do, if someone says, "Hey, can you spare some change?" is I say "no, but I wish you well." And I mean it. And ideally, I have some resources, in my mind, to be able to say, wha

t is it that you really need? And some people are afraid some people have disdain some people feel sorry for the person. So that's step two, may or may not come. I certainly know. And we need to recognize that there are two people in the relationship of panhandling, there's the giver and the receiver. And the person we're calling the giver is actually receiving as well. And that's really the reason that we have people consistently at certain areas in our communities, is that those givers are rec

eiving something when they keep giving. And so it's hard to break up that powerful relationship between the giver and whoever's receiving. But I'm curious, Randi, if you want to comment, or if others on the call here would like to comment. Randi: I think I like how you brought the resources in there, Monica, because a lot of times like and just ask him, are you hungry? You know, and like, my I went and got people sandwiches and stuff. But like, number one, ask them. And resources are huge, wheth

er they end whether they choose to use now, then or when they're ready, like those resources are still there. Like that's I keep kind of like a little book of information and like. Yeah. Mary Dedeaux-Swinton: Monica and Randi, I know, at certain times of the year, it's really popular for groups to get together and put goodie bags or blessing bags or whatever you want to call it. What is your thought on those? I know they're, they're put together with great intentions. But... Monica Nilsson: Yeah

, we should do a half an hour with Haven Housing, panhandling and giving honestly, because it can be a whole topic. And there there are many others on this call. I can see by names that have lots of experience and lenses on this as well. I think the thing that I always go back to is the relationships. And again, it's based on my own experience. But I have known so many people that survive outside but they're not thriving. And I'm concerned about how in this dominant white culture in America, we

have there's a term that some may be familiar with of white saviorism, and that we're very good at charity. But we need not only that foot of charity, but the foot of social justice or social action and I get concerned that a lot of groups spend a lot of time putting together kits to give to people who are sleeping outside or who are panhandling. And we're not spending at least an equal amount of time saying why are they sleeping outside? I am concerned when Minnesota talks about having a surplu

s. And we know we have children sleeping outside, we know we have the majority of our counties in Minnesota that don't have a shelter. So I want people to think about, when they are doing those acts of charity, at least make sure that equal time is going to that other foot of social action. Kay: Monica, yeah, Monica Nilsson: Hi, Kay. Kay: Hi. So I belong to a couple of different groups have spent a lot of time over at the legislature. It's been through zoom primarily lately, but you know, before

that day on the hills and that kind of thing. And I never have gotten any good statistics from the groups that we work with and what you had on that PowerPoint is exactly what I need, can you send that out to us after will it go through here somewhere, is on, you know, how it breaks out, and then the female outstate all that would be just great to have, I will pass it out to everybody I know. Monica Nilsson: Well, and I think it's important now that you are learning all of us, in order to share

the information. It has to be manageable to other people, because your relatives or friends aren't going to get into the weeds of homelessness or housing. And so how can we make the stories we share manageable. So I think that's another ask of you is as you now become educators, just to take one thing, if you can bust one myth, that might be all your friend can absorb. But at least you help us that one myth. Emily: Monica, this is Emily, I have a question about advancing the Social Justice Miss

ion. What how? What's the best way for us to help move that forward? Monica Nilsson: Well, I think I'd say it goes both ways that as individuals or groups, think about investing time in some charitable effort or nonprofit effort, making sure that part of that time is spent on education and engagement. And frankly, on our end, we have to make sure that when people call and say, Can we clean up your yard or wash your walls, that we say actually, we'd like to spend some time having you talk with Ra

ndi, or me or other people. And I don't think it's that that groups don't want to learn. Part of it is that people know how to do charity. But it can be uncomfortable to just spend time together with people who have experienced trauma or poverty or incarceration or homelessness, if you've never really talked with somebody who has. And so it's up to us to help facilitate that. Emily: Great, thank you. Mary Dedeaux-Swinton: All righty. Monica, and Randi, thank you so much for sharing with us today

. And for our audience. Thank you again for joining us with for this Half Hour with Haven Housing, and 30 minutes really is just enough time to scratch the very very surface of these important issues. Later today, you're going to receive an email with a link to the recording of today's event and we encourage you to share it with your networks. You'll also receive some additional information and a survey to help us plan for future events. Before we close, we'll use support Haven Housing's work wi

th a financial donation. If you're able you can visit the link that's been shared in the chat. It's quick and easy and your donation will help us meet each woman and child in our programs where they are and support them as they explore and pursue opportunities for their future. You can also visit our website to find out more about the programs and services that Haven Housing offers, in addition to the other many ways that you can support this incredibly important work. Please remember to contact

us if you have any questions or you want additional information. And again, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Randi: Thank you