Our three-phase plan
Phase 1: Outdoor villages and outreach coordination
Establish authorized outdoor safe spaces for those living in vehicles and tents. Sites will be capacity controlled, with 10-20 residents and include:
- Security perimeter
- Garbages and bathrooms
- Deep engagement by social services
- Good Neighbor working groups to address concerns between the sites and immediate neighbors
- Community covenant and leadership among the community
Phase 1 will also see the addition of street outreach and peer support specialist staff to support residents and connect them to services.
Why not just move people indoors? The most simple answer to this is that there is not enough shelter or housing for everyone who needs it. While we work to increase the number of indoor beds, outdoor villages will help address the urgent public health and safety issues caused by unsanctioned encampments and lack of access to basic hygiene services. We also recognize that people must move at their own pace toward stabilization, and an outdoor village provides a stepping stone for those who are not quite ready for either a lease or for a more shelter.
Phase 2: Shelter Next indoor villages
Create 100 new emergency shelter beds in scattered site, indoor villages where people can work to stabilize their lives toward a goal of permanent supportive housing. This is a reimagining of shelter for our current realities and based on best, people-centered practice.
- Simple, individual rooms to provide dignity and a safe space for personal belongings.
- Communal dining and living areas.
- 24 hour support staff.
- Using existing, underutilized commercial structures to keep costs down.
- Coordinated service provision between agencies to ensure people have access to recovery, mental health, lifeskill, cultural and vocational support.
- Volunteer and community engagement to break the cycle of isolation.
Phase 2 sites are the place where people can finally rest and breathe easy and begin a process of healing from the trauma of homelessness, greatly increasing their chance of success when they move into permanent housing.
Phase 3: Permanent, community-oriented housing
Phase 3: Permanent, community-oriented housing
The primary cause of homelessness is the lack of available housing. There is a need for more units across the income spectrum in Duluth, but the need is greatest for those with the fewest resources. We cannot afford to wait for private development to materialize. With the cost of building skyrocketing, we need to look at more affordable and creative models. Phase 3 buildings will:
- Be new construction or repurposing of non-residential buildings to add to Duluth's housing stock.
- Use creative, more cost effective models such as hotel/motel conversion, tiny houses and micro apartment units.
- Be small scale to (12-24 units per development) and spread out throughout all of Duluth's neighborhoods.
- Include a deep level of support and service provision to ensure residents are successful and able to continue a path toward their own defined goals.
- Continue with personalized and meaningful community engagement, each site with its own Good Neighbor committee and support from outside volunteers and community groups to advance resident goals, whether those goals are supporting recovery, cultural activities or planting a garden.