Help for homelessness

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.

Frequently asked questions about housing resources, for housing providers (PDF, 1MB)

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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: (1) renter households facing eviction; (2) households residing in unstable and temporary housing (e.g. with family or friends); and (3) 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, 7,583 KB)

Executive Summary: Countywide plan for homelessness prevention (PDF, 3,024 KB)

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 County housing-focused case management programs

People experiencing unsheltered homeless can get connections to housing whether or not they spend time in emergency shelter.

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.

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

Streets to Housing qualitative evaluation and summary reportData drives and measures the effectiveness of our work. Knowing individual stories and community trends helps us anticipate individual and collective needs.

Annual Point in Time count

View Hennepin County's Point in Time Count website to review 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

Subscribe to the shelter report

Monthly tracking of chronic homelessness

Progress to zero data – dashboard

Eviction information

Hennepin County evictions data – Power BI dashboard

Streets to Housing evaluation

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, 1.986 KB)

Homelessness data

How Hennepin County uses the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)

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.

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