Homeless and hidden in Minnesota

The Northtown Mall parking lot in Blaine looked like one at any suburban shopping mall, but the tents and the chili and sandwiches being served represented Minnesota's latest attempt to count its growing homeless population.

"This is the first time we've done this on this scale,'' said Heather Ries, executive director of Stepping Stone Emergency Housing in Anoka, which coordinated the shopping center event as part of Minnesota's official "homeless census'' conducted Thursday.

In the parking lot, volunteers with clipboards sat inside cars, interviewing homeless folks who came to be counted.

"It seemed like the right thing to do [to come here],'' said Tara Haugen, a young woman from Anoka who answered census questions under the warming lights of the mall's bus stop.

Haugen is among the growing ranks of new homeless people in Minnesota, a growth sparked by job losses, home foreclosures and a fragile economy, census organizers said. Precisely counting these people, however, is a challenge because they don't show up at shelters or soup kitchens.

Recognizing they were more likely to be living with family and friends than staying in traditional homeless sites, census organizers this year created new, centralized locations such as the Blaine shopping mall, to try to find them.

"We know we have more than 1,000 homeless people in Anoka County. But they are more hidden than in the cities," Ries said. "That's why we had a mini event to invite them here.''

The Wilder Research Center has conducted a statewide homeless census every three years since 1991, said Greg Owen, a research director at the center. About 9,000 people were counted in the last survey taken in 2006, he said.

Numbers have not been updated since, said Owen.

"We don't know exactly what we'll find this year,'' said Owen. "But I think with the foreclosures, lack of job opportunities and all of the economic news, we're going to find a significant number.''

New homeless

Haugen, 27, represents a growing type of homelessness in Minnesota, namely folks who haven't been homeless before.

She had been living with the father of her children until this spring, sharing the rent. But when the two separated, she couldn't afford the rent on her own. She's been living with family and friends, and for a while rented a room, until she lands on her feet.

"I don't want to be a burden to anyone,'' said Haugen, who works a part-time job.

While Haugen was being interviewed at the bus stop yesterday, Joshua Edwards sat in a nearby car with a county social worker holding the 32-page survey. He was among a half-dozen homeless students from Paladin Academy charter school in Blaine who had walked over to the tent that smelled of chili and hot coffee.

The census volunteer, one of 1,600 who had fanned out around the state, asked Edwards more than 100 questions. They covered his home life, personal life, health, possible drug or alcohol use, abuse and other factors that contribute to homelessness.

In the past six months, was your job eliminated?, she asked Edwards. The answer: Yes.

Are you currently looking for work, she asked? The answer: "Definitely.''

What's the biggest barrier to employment? The answer: "Transportation and employment history. I don't have a whole lot.''

Edwards finished the survey in about a half hour, sitting in the warm car and taking respite from the cold. In exchange for his cooperation, he received $5, a gift bag, and a warm meal from the tent.

Results due next year

There is greatest interest in youth, the newly homeless and veterans, said Owen.

"People are particularly interested in what is happening to the men and women coming back from the Iraq war,'' he said.

While the new census will provide detailed information about those veterans and others, the data won't be available until next year.

"This will be the most comprehensive survey we've ever done,'' said Owen.

Jean Hopfensperger • 612-673-4511