Projects and initiatives

Work to end chronic homelessness

Hennepin County is committed to ending chronic homelessness.

According to guidelines from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person is experiencing chronic homelessness if they are:

Without a stable home for at least 12 consecutive months
Without a home on at least four occasions in the past three years that total 12 months
Living with a disability

Ending chronic homelessness doesn’t mean no one in our community will be homeless, but that instances will be rare, brief and nonrecurring, and more people will exit homelessness than enter it.

In Hennepin County, we have found value in approaching people as individuals, using a person-centered approach, and knowing the unique barriers people face as they try to get into housing.

Taking a broad, collaborative approach

Our teams work in collaboration to create system-wide change.

Since 2020, the Housing and Economic Development team has financed 267 units for people experiencing chronic homelessness through our Supportive Housing Strategy. People access these units via referrals through the Hennepin County Coordinated Entry system.

Our local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) administrator, Institute for Community Alliances (ICA) has worked to refine and focus our reporting capability. This ensures we are able to pull accurate data from HMIS, which leads to more nimble decision making and enables us assess our community’s needs.

Housing-focused case management staff in Hennepin County reach out to people across the community, wherever they are, and work as partners to support people experiencing homelessness in meeting their housing goals. People who are chronically homeless face significant barriers and setbacks, which can make navigating the system more difficult. We know that part of supporting people into housing requires earning their trust, and identifying when they’re ready to move forward.

Staff have resources to address many types of barriers to housing, and to ensure housing will be sustainable, such as:

Connecting the person to resources, such as vital documents, legal system navigation, health care and benefits
Supporting the person in creating and achieving their housing goal plan, which includes pursuing all available and appropriate options
Finding the right kind of housing to meet the person’s financial, physical and other needs, including group housing, single room occupancy options or market rate apartments, using Coordinated Entry resources as needed
Accessing community-based flexible fund resources

Housing one person at a time

The solution to homelessness is housing.

Over the past three years, Hennepin County staff and our partners have supported hundreds of people to identify appropriate housing options and transition from long-term homelessness to the right permanent housing to meet their needs. During that time, 96% of people we’ve served have remained in stable, dignified housing.

We know that in order to provide person-centered service, we need to know the people we serve.

By-name list

We use a by-name list, a data structure for gathering and sharing key information, so the people we serve don’t have to repeat their stories each time we engage with them. Information can include:

Eligibility for benefits
Past experiences with housing
Details about their barriers to housing, including health conditions and physical and behavioral health issues
Their unique interests and needs.

This information allows us to track data on an aggregate and individual level so we’re able to make thoughtful, equitable decisions about resource allocation and work to get these people into housing quickly. Hennepin County is partnering with Community Solutions, a nonprofit focused on supporting communities across the nation to end homelessness and to strengthen our community’s ability to respond to chronic homelessness in a robust and dynamic way. Our community has been selected to participate in the Built for Zero effort, which provides technical assistance, planning support, and connection to other communities that are doing this work.

Community Solutions and Built for Zero

Achieving positive outcomes

Hennepin County staff and our partners have helped transition 1,628 people who previously were experiencing chronic homelessness into stable, dignified, sustainable housing. As of January 2024, 93% of them have not returned to homelessness.

We know what works to prevent chronic homelessness, and to house those who have been without their own homes for a long time. We will continue to work tirelessly to support chronically homeless individuals and families to access housing resources that are safe, dignified, and aligned with their needs.

PowerBI – Built for zero stabilization overview