Projects and initiatives
Housing stability strategy
Hennepin County's Housing Stability Area works collaboratively with civic and community partners to ensure that residents, especially those with the highest barriers and lowest incomes, can access and sustain safe and stable housing.
We envision a community where homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring. This means reducing evictions, ending chronic homelessness and increasing the number of people served by supportive housing programs.
Preventing homelessness
Homelessness prevention is among the core pillars of Hennepin County’s overall housing stability strategy. Prevention programs and services aim to promote stable housing by supporting residents at risk for homelessness to build protective factors, resolve an imminent housing crisis, and preserve short- and long-term housing stability.
Hennepin County’s prevention system uses a comprehensive approach aimed at disrupting our community’s most prominent pathways into homelessness by building housing stability alongside residents in high-risk housing situations including:
- Renter households facing eviction
- Households residing in unstable and temporary housing (e.g. with family or friends)
Residents exiting justice or human service systems (i.e. incarceration, foster care, treatment, hospitals, etc.)
Our strategic plan outlines Hennepin County’s prevention-related goals, objectives, and strategies:
Full: Countywide plan for homelessness prevention (PDF, 3MB)
Executive Summary: Countywide plan for homelessness prevention (PDF, 8MB)
Prevention resources
Learn about eviction prevention resources available to renter households.
Helping people experiencing homelessness
Shelters are a temporary emergency response for people who are experiencing homelessness. Shelter populations are dynamic - each day, people transition from shelter to housing or other options, while others arrive needing help.
Hennepin County contracts with about a dozen provider-managed shelters for adults without children, youth and families. As of 2022, our contracted shelters offered about 800 spaces for adults and 70 spaces for youth. Hennepin County has a "shelter all" policy for families with children younger than 18, which means that qualifying families are never turned away - in infrequent situations when family shelters are full, we work with families to find alternative shelter.
Information about Hennepin County's contracted emergency shelters
- Hennepin shelter hotline overview - English (PDF, 1MB)
- Hennepin shelter hotline overview - Somali (PDF, 1MB)
- Hennepin shelter hotline overview - Spanish (PDF, 1MB)
- Hennepin shelter hotline overview - Hmong (PDF, 1MB)
Hennepin County housing-focused case management programs
People experiencing unsheltered homeless can get connections to housing whether or not they spend time in emergency shelter.
- Programs to help people move from homelessness into sustainable, permanent housing. Homelessness to housing program
- Programs to connect people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to supportive resources, including housing. Help for unsheltered homelessness
- Our work to reduce chronic homelessness. Coordinated Entry homeless assistance
Data about homelessness in Hennepin County
Transitioning people to the right housing
Our goal is for every resident of Hennepin County to have individualized support to access dignified and safe options for housing that evolve along with their needs.
We work to maximize residents’ existing touchpoints with the county – and our partners – to set and provide the level of support they need.
Hennepin County’s Housing and Economic Development Department works on plans to develop affordable and appropriate housing, but the Housing Stability area is responsible to match people with the housing and related supports that work best for them.
- Read about how the Coordinated Entry system helps us place people into supportive housing. Coordinated Entry homeless assistance
- Learn about how our supportive housing strategy informs how we invest in programs to support people in their homes. Supportive housing funding
- Access housing with supports. Housing Benefits 101
Assessing housing needs across Hennepin County
We use data to track housing trends across Hennepin County’s 1.2 million residents, to help determine how many households
- Own their homes
- Rent their homes
- Need affordable and deeply affordable housing
- Need active support to stay in their housing
You can help
Advocate
Ask city, county state and federal representatives to commit immediate funding and meaningful action.
Join forces with established efforts.
Volunteer
Find opportunities at HandsOn Twin Cities.
Donate
Choose a nonprofit that provides shelter, housing and essential services.
Educate
Learn about homelessness, and then share solutions with friends, family, neighbors and policymakers.
Data and research
Data drives and measures the effectiveness of our work. Knowing individual stories and community trends helps us anticipate individual and collective needs.
Homelessness prevention research and data
Needs assessment executive summary (PDF, 4MB)
Full needs assessment (PDF, 4MB)
Eviction information
Hennepin County evictions data – Power BI dashboard
Homelessness data
Our data collection system
Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) (PDF, 1MB)
Annual Point in Time count
Unsheltered homelessness
Hennepin County solicited an independent evaluation of the Streets to Housing through a partnership with the University of Minnesota and the Hennepin-University Partnership.
Streets to Housing: A Qualitative Evaluation and Summary Report (PDF, 2MB)
Shelter data
Hennepin County single adult homeless shelters dashboard
Open the single adult homeless shelter bed availability dashboard in its own browser window
Hennepin County family homeless shelters dashboard
Open the family homeless shelters dashboard in its own browser window
Weekly shelter report
Learn more about Hennepin County's response to homelessness
Request a speaker from the Housing Stability Area
We understand that the systems and challenges surrounding housing instability can be complex. Our experienced staff are available to engage with your audience and share insights into our efforts to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring in Hennepin County.
To request a speaker for your event, please fill out this request form.