Editor’s note: This report is part of The Catholic Spirit’s ongoing Homelessness in Minnesota series.
The temperature in the Twin Cities April 12 climbed to 84 degrees — setting a record for that day; a perfect day for barbeque.
Steaming heaps of barbeque ribs and chicken — along with fruit salad, roast vegetables and cheesy potatoes — awaited clusters of people gathered for lunch. Steady meals are among the services offered at the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation St. Paul Opportunity Center in St. Paul as people experience housing challenges and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have people who are experiencing homelessness — whether they’re sheltered or unsheltered — receiving meals here, we have our campus housing residents receiving meals here, and we have a strong mix of people who are housed in the community … a lot of people who are housed but still are in fairly deep states of poverty come here because it is a guaranteed, secure meal for them,” said Christine Michels, director of housing stability and opportunity at Catholic Charities Twin Cities.
Michael DeJong, 65, has been foodservice supervisor for Catholic Charities Twin Cities for the past 17 years. It’s unique work, DeJong said, because “instead of planning a menu and ordering, we depend so much on donations … and so our menus (are) planned after we get the food in,” meaning kitchen staff often gets creative.
DeJong, 10 kitchen staff members, and volunteers prepare and serve three meals a day every day of the year at the St. Paul Opportunity Center — currently, the kitchen averages serving 210 to 270 meals per mealtime, DeJong said; sometimes up to 300 meals are served. Having volunteer help is necessary, he said, not just to help with the volume of food preparation and serving but also in making connections with people.
“A lot of our volunteers have been here for years and years and so a lot of people get to know them … people anticipate, they know those people,” DeJong said. Michels, who has been working with Catholic Charities Twin Cities for the past 13 years, agreed, saying, “The long-term relationships are key.”
Peggy Parenteau, 72, has been active as a coordinator with the Loaves and Fishes ministry through her parish of St. Mary of the Lake in White Bear Lake for over 20 years. She and her husband, John, who is also a coordinator, help to organize the list of parish volunteers and order food to be delivered to the St. Paul Opportunity Center’s kitchen.
Parenteau said the third Wednesday of every month, a parish volunteer group of about 10 people visits the St. Paul Opportunity Center to serve dinner — this meal service has been taking place since 1985, when the ministry launched at St. Mary of the Lake. Parenteau said she and her husband have a list of close to 100 volunteers that they add to the monthly rotation.
“It’s a very popular ministry,” Parenteau said. “There’s so many people that would do it every single month.”
A volunteer supplies a dessert for each month’s visit. Volunteers also set out new arrangements of silk flowers as table centerpieces — “a couple of our parishioners in the ‘80s started that,” Parenteau said.
As center visitors make their way through meal lines, volunteers make connections through comments such as “Enjoy your meal,” “Thanks for being here,” and “We’re glad you came,” Parenteau said.
“It’s very humbling to know this is maybe their only meal that day,” she said. “All we know is we can feed them this wonderful meal and we can be the hands, the feet and the smile of Jesus to the guests that we serve.”
Currently, volunteer groups from 28 Catholic parishes and two Catholic schools within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis participate regularly to support Catholic Charities’ offerings at the St. Paul Opportunity Center.
‘Next step of service delivery’
Catholic Charities Twin Cities programs assist more than 20,000 people per year, including 10,000 who seek support at the nonprofit’s four emergency shelters and two day centers.
Receiving both public and private funding, the St. Paul Opportunity Center opened in October 2019. Also on the $110 million Dorothy Day Place campus is the Higher Ground St. Paul building, which opened in 2017, and connects to the St. Paul Opportunity Center via skyway.
The St. Paul Opportunity Center — which serves about 1,000 people per day — offers meals, shelter, employment and housing resources, social services, financial assistance programs, veterans services and medical care, among other services. The St. Paul Opportunity Center also has 177 units (77 efficiency apartments and 100 single-occupancy units) of permanent housing on site. Higher Ground St. Paul offers overnight and emergency shelter as well as permanent housing — its two floors of shelter have capacity for 356 people and its three floors of housing include 193 single-occupancy units.
According to Michael Goar, president and CEO of Catholic Charities Twin Cities, the nonprofit organization is one of the only providers in the Twin Cities of both overnight and daytime shelter and services — including hot meals, showers and laundry services as well as storage locker access.
Meeting a variety of basic needs in one location is one approach to addressing the multi-faceted issue of the experience of homelessness, according to Michels.
“The expectation that someone is able to step up and out of whatever their circumstance is, when they’re not getting those fundamental basic needs met, is really unlikely for any individual,” Michels said, adding that “the stabilizing aspects that we’re able to provide along with engagement, relationship-building, garnering and brokering trust with people, is really how we elevate to that next step of service delivery.”
Parenteau said the center is “a beautiful, beautiful space” that “can provide so many different tools for the guests that are in need.” For instance, “they have nurses coming in, and they have people coming in and helping in one spot so you can make an appointment and come to this nice, warm building as a guest and get help.”
Having services near shelter residents was a critical consideration for the St. Paul Opportunity Center’s design. “Residents talk about the experience of homelessness as being shuffled around and told to go to different places,” said Mike Rios-Keating, social justice education manager at Catholic Charities Twin Cities. “So, the entire vision for this space was can we have (services) in a single space … to be able to say upstairs versus downtown. That’s a huge difference in terms of those barriers for individuals.”
Needs beyond a roof and walls
In its 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development determined that, on a single night in January 2022, the total number of people experiencing homelessness nationwide was 582,462. Of that total, 60% were sheltered — meaning, in “emergency shelters, safe havens or transitional housing programs”— and 40% were unsheltered — meaning, “on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation.”
In Minnesota, the report determined that, on a single night in January 2022, the total number of people experiencing homelessness was 7,917. Of that total, 77.7% were sheltered and 22.3% were unsheltered.
Meanwhile, a key finding from a report the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute partnered to release in January 2023 was that those who experience homelessness face an earlier and greater risk of death regardless of age, gender or race — the death rate is triple that of the general Minnesota population.
To compile that report — produced with nonprofit CDC Foundation support as a product of the Center of Excellence on Public Health and Homelessness — MDH and HHRI utilized data gathered from January 2017 through December 2021. The partnering agencies merged Minnesota Homeless Management Information System data on 93,923 people who used homelessness-related services (such as shelters or transitional housing) from 2017 to 2021 with state death and state population data from 2017 to 2020 from the U.S. Census to compare sociodemographic differences and causes of death among those experiencing homelessness.
The data from that report show overall substance use-related deaths for people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota were at 36.7%, overall chronic diseases accounted for 36.1% of deaths, external causes (including suicide, homicide, traffic incidents and “other accidents and trauma”) accounted for 15% of deaths, and infectious disease-related deaths were at 5.1%.
The report also showed roughly 15% of people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota meet the federal HUD definition of chronic homelessness. The report indicated most people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota lived in Hennepin (29.9%) or Ramsey (17.3%) counties; 8.7% lived in portions of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Scott and Washington counties. Beyond the Twin Cities metro area, 10.6% lived in the Duluth/St. Louis County designated area and 33.4% lived in other areas throughout the state.
On top of unique needs, Michels said it’s not always a clear-cut, linear story of progress for someone experiencing homelessness. “We can all think about ‘housing first,’ but what’s second? And also, while you’re trying to find housing, what’s happening? And that’s a much more difficult question to answer because what’s second is person-centered, unique and varied.”
Frustrating to Michels are the moments in which someone she, or a member of the Catholic Charities Twin Cities staff, is working with can articulate a need — and then there’s a roadblock to meeting that need.
For example, Michels said, “somebody says, ‘I need treatment’ and it’s three months of bureaucratic red tape to get somebody into that place (of treatment).” Or, “somebody says ‘I just need some empowerment and some mentorship and maybe some education on financial resources and support’ — if I don’t have that volunteer that I can connect them with when that lightbulb has gone on, it’s really disheartening not only for the individual who is expressing a want and a desire for the service, but for the person who’s trying to make a referral or a connection to that service. And that was what we lived through 24/7 during COVID.”
Michels noted the community she encounters on a regular basis on the St. Paul campus “is suffering pretty significantly and I think it’s going to take at least a few more years of really authentic and intentional services.”
Andrea Hinderaker, program coordinator of St. Paul’s Homeless Assistance Response Team, said she, too, witnessed new challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic as she and her outreach team visited various encampments throughout the Twin Cities. “When it came to mental health appointments, when it came to getting your prescriptions renewed, when it came to getting your general assistance or any type of basic benefits, you had to navigate a now complex system on top of just surviving every day.”
HART issues a weekly report on encampment population demographics and locations; the reports also feature team perspective for community education. In one report, Hinderaker answers the question, “Why would anyone pitch a tent outside a shelter when they could just go inside?”
She writes, in part, “When I speak with community members about homelessness and why some solutions seem too easy from the perspective of a stable, housed individual who experiences a decent night’s rest on a regular basis, eats regularly, manages their physical health through preventive measures, and relaxes now and again with friends and family…sometimes the answer is as simple as — ‘If you had none of those things going for you — how would you be functioning on a daily basis?’
“Now add years of trauma, perhaps incarceration, debilitating illness or addiction, suddenly nothing is easy and more solutions are so far out of your view that survival is the only mindset possible.”
Hinderaker also said her role, at times, is mediator between unhoused and housed community members; she speaks to the latter often at panel discussions that include shelter providers, outreach teams and police officers, among others. “My job is to help both of you … And what I need from both of you is patience and if we can find that place where we understand this isn’t a quick fix overnight, then we’re going to be able to make progress.”
A particular challenge for many who are unsheltered is seeking shelter availability when places fill up quickly. In recent years, Hinderaker said, “shelters have become residences, so you know, they’re full almost every night.”
The amount of time it takes a person experiencing homelessness to find stable housing is critical; “The increased likelihood of long-term homelessness after being homeless for one night, it just ramps up so quickly after 24 hours,” Rios-Keating said.
Hinderaker said she’s hopeful local efforts to create and convert spaces for both transitional and permanent affordable housing will generate “movement from the street level to the housing level.”
Hennepin County invested over $55.8 million, across multiple funding sources, last year to finance about 3,300 affordable rental units and affordable home ownership opportunities. This year, county and Housing and Redevelopment Authority representatives have so far budgeted $15.2 million for housing development. Meanwhile, Ramsey County invested over $29 million, across multiple funding sources, last year to support affordable housing — those investments will lead to 1,128 new rental units and the preservation of 1,029 rental units.
One of HART’s goals, Hinderaker said, is not to continually move people from one location to the next, further displacing them, but rather to “do one move to something better.”
This is Michels’ work as well. “If we could serve people in a more dignified way, we could speed up the revolving door of people in and out of shelter to better destinations.”
Wholehearted care
Two weeks after the unseasonably warm April 12, Minnesota spring returned with a cool and wet vengeance. On the second floor of the St. Paul Opportunity Center, people eased their feet into warm footbaths that Andrea Arntzen and several of her fellow nursing program participants prepared.
St. Paul-based St. Catherine University nursing program students have been holding therapeutic foot care clinics at Catholic Charities sites for the past 15 years.
“People just love it, especially in the wintertime, when folks are outside in the cold a lot, you know, feet getting wet … it’s just such a service,” said Lauren Erchul McCabe, resource coordinator at the St. Paul Opportunity Center.
It was Arntzen’s first time providing such foot care; her focus was on providing “holistic, wholehearted care and just recognizing everyone’s human.” Wholehearted care, the 23-year-old said, “is just really listening from the heart and providing care from the heart … providing dignity and just doing whatever that means for the patient … you go based off their needs and try to really support them.”
Megan Williams, assistant professor of nursing at the University of St. Catherine, said the foot care clinic allows nursing students to “honor where people are in their life journey and provide that sort of non-judgmental care” to recipients. Williams, 48, went on to say she tells her students that “it’s more about that therapeutic communication that you can have with a client.” She describes wholehearted care as “recognizing people’s humanity and meeting them where they’re at and recognizing they’re more than just the illness that they might present with … so that they’re recognized as a person first.”
For Arntzen, being in that caretaker role is about “giving respect to one another … solidifying that wholeheartedness and being just good, Godly people.”
Seats filled up and the nursing students soaked feet, trimmed nails and talked with clinic visitors. The scents of soap and essential oils filled the room, mingling with the soft “spa music” Williams played from her phone. A recipient of Arntzen’s care stood up and both smiled as they hugged.
Michels said these acts of care allow for special attention to be paid to the “day-to-day experiences that, when you’re living in the cycle of homelessness, you lose sight of.”
‘It’s not just numbers’
In its conclusion, the report from the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute recommends investments in “cross-sector health and housing programs” to address high mortality rates among Minnesotans experiencing homelessness.
The cross-sector approach can restore the dignity of a person’s “unique and varied” experience, as Michels said. It also avoids reducing a person’s experience to a statistic.
“Every time I put those (HART weekly reports) out, what people are really wanting is the stats,” Hinderaker said. “But I try to say, it’s not just numbers. These are people, there are lessons to be learned here and there’s compassion to be found here.”
‘I just keep going’
Scott K. is looking forward to having his own place again.
He and his mother have been at Higher Ground St. Paul since the beginning of February. “I was fortunate enough to sign up for the lottery and get a bed over there the very first day,” Scott said. “And I’ve had that bed since.” His mother has a bed in the on-site women’s shelter.
Scott and his mother — who has spinal stenosis and who Scott helps care for — were evicted from their apartment and are in an ongoing court eviction hearing process.
“As stressful as it has been, I do stay positive, and I keep a positive mindset and I just keep going,” he said.
Scott has been utilizing housing and job resources at the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation St. Paul Opportunity Center in St. Paul and his mother has been utilizing housing and medical services.
Though he’s eager to move on from the shelter, “there are small things that do make me happier here,” Scott acknowledged. “I love feeding animals, so I’ll go outside sometimes and feed the pigeons out here. And I love doing that.” He also visits nearby Rice Park with his mother; sometimes, “the pigeons and squirrels will eat right out of our hands.”
He pays attention to those who surround him at the shelter. “Everyone has their own stories and their struggles, and you don’t know. Sometimes talking to people here, if you get to know them well enough and they do tell their story, it’s interesting. It can be inspiring.”
Getting involved
The following are ways to get involved with Catholic Charities Twin Cities, whether by volunteering, donating or reaching out to local lawmakers.
- Donate at cctwincities.org/donate.
- Sign up to volunteer at cctwincities.org/volunteer.
- Advocate at cctwincities.org/advocate and reach out to local lawmakers at cctwincities.org/advocate/take-action-now/.
St. Paul forms homelessness response team
In 2021, St. Paul officials implemented a Homeless Assistance Response Team in response to a significant rise in the number of unsheltered residents.
As program coordinator, Andrea Hinderaker is at the helm of HART, which is part of the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections and consists of three team members.
The team often crosses paths with Catholic Charities Twin Cities; in one of HART’s weekly reports, Hinderaker noted that “St. Paul is fortunate to have Catholic Charities St. Paul Opportunity Center as a hub for someone to find even just one solution to myriad barriers: meals, laundry, showers and service providers from across the country.”
Hinderaker has been in her role with HART since March 1, 2022. Before that, she spent almost 10 years working at the Listening House in St. Paul — a daytime shelter for those experiencing poverty and homelessness. She also worked at St. Paul-based Model Cities, where she learned the “dynamics of families transitioning out of homelessness” — including helping to run the Model Cities emergency shelter contracted with Ramsey County at Safe Space Shelter in St. Paul for two and a half years. Her experience also includes working in the adult foster care system and at group residential housing sites in Dakota County.
“I’ve always had a passion to help people,” the 46-year-old said. Working with HART “brings me so much joy,” Hinderaker said, especially when members of her team interact with those experiencing homelessness “and say ‘Hey, we see you, and you’re valuable, and you deserve better, and we want to figure out how to change things.’”
Growing up in poverty in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Hinderaker said her mother experienced a persistent mental illness and her father struggled to land stable and consistent work. Hinderaker said “I watched him get up every day as if he had a job, and he did odd jobs all day long to keep our family afloat.”
“I’ve learned firsthand about the stigmas and the challenges, just watching my family navigate them,” Hinderaker said.
Her experiences have taught her how “to pause when I meet people and to better understand that there’s complexities behind the person standing in front of me and that it’s never as easy as (saying), ‘Just get a job’ or ‘If you take your meds, everything will be better’ or all of those things.” She said oftentimes, people she encounters through her work “don’t have someone to protect them from the world, to offer them a safe space, to love them unconditionally.”
It’s why — when asked for her thoughts on the nationally-recognized concept of “housing first,” which advocates getting people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing first and then finding ways to improve quality of life — Hinderaker said, “I feel that housing is most successful if it comes with community. If it’s just a roof and walls, it’s just as isolating as anything else. But if it comes with a community of people … they offer a safe space. It’s unconditional care, it’s creativity, it’s patience, it’s all of the things that we appreciate in our own social worlds.” She added, “It’s not enough to just put someone somewhere; you really have to remember that as a human being, there’s so many other things that we require.”
