Homelessness
Photo Credit: Chappy Achen
Consistently and accurately measuring the scale of homelessness is difficult. For most, homelessness is not a permanent state of being but a temporary status, often intertwined with many other factors, such as generational poverty, frequent mobility, unstable employment, traumatic life events or poor health. A lack of a consistent definition of homelessness adds to this difficulty. For instance, people who are living in a doubled-up situation or couch hopping may or may not be included in a count. By looking at homelessness from multiple data sources, we can begin to get a picture of how homelessness impacts individuals and families within a community and the community as a whole. (Study of Homelessness: A Look at Homelessness and Housing Instability in the City of Red Wing. North Star Policy Consulting, 2021)
Number of Households in Goodhue County Placed on a Priority Waiting List for Stable Housing
Summary: The number of households in Goodhue County on a waiting list for stable housing through the Coordinated Entry System decreased more than 55% between 2021 and 2022.
Details: Coordinated Entry in the River Valleys Community of Care Region covers southeast Minnesota and is designed to ensure that all who experience a housing crisis has fair access to housing as it becomes available through the homelessness-response system. If people need assistance, they complete an assessment and are placed on a prioritization list.
Source: 2022 Rural Housing Homelessness Report-River Valleys Coc.
People Receiving Hotel Vouchers by HOPE Coalition for Overnight Shelter
Summary: The number of people who receive vouchers from HOPE Coalition to stay at a motel for a night or two to avoid homelessness has remained fairly stable over the last three years. Keeping track of this measurement is one way to gauge homelessness locally.
Details: The number of people who receive housing vouchers from HOPE Coalition to stay in motels for extremely short-term stays to avoid homelessness. Most are Red Wing residents, though a small percentage may be from Goodhue County. These numbers do not include the people—primarily single people—whom HOPE provides tents or sleeping bags to stay outdoors in the warm seasons.
Source: Hope Coalition, 2023
Number of People Housed at Hope and Harbor Shelter
Summary: People stayed longer at Hope & Harbor during the 2020-2021 season. That year, with COVID-19, the shelter was open 24 hours a day.
Details: Number of nights equals the number of nights the shelter is open each season. Number of Guests equals the number of unique clients who use the shelter. Nights of Care equals the total number of nights providing care to people as a whole. (i.e. 6 people housed for 5 nights = 30 nights of care.) The shelter is open during the cold months in local churches and provides housing from 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. seven days a week. The exact weeks are based on the amount of funding secured. The shelter is available to those 18 years and older and is not open to families with children. Hope & Harbor opened in 2019.
Source: Hope & Harbor, 2023