Frost crunched under Christine Michels’ tires as she whipped her car around downtown St. Paul. It was 6 a.m. on a cold December morning and Michels spotted Jeff, a client she’s chased for months, sleeping on a sidewalk outside the Xcel Energy Center.
It had been two months since Michels referred Jeff, who declined to share his last name, to permanent housing. Michels and her staff struggled to find him afterward. As she approached Jeff that morning, city cleaners arrived and asked him to leave.
“Good morning Jeff, How are ya?” Michels asked, helping him into his wheelchair with the help of her coworker Sam Stoltz. One city worker said Jeff’s hands were blue and his feet appeared frozen. “You good?” Michels continued before wheeling him indoors, “A little chilly?”
Though Jeff is one case, he represents thousands of vulnerable residents who St. Paul hopes to reach through its Familiar Faces initiative.

Familiar Faces uses outreach and a personalized approach to connect people who frequent shelters, jails, hospitals or emergency services with city resources that could help them. The program is still hiring workers and looking for a permanent building, but Michels plans to partner with more organizations to create a health network for such residents.
Michels has worked with unsheltered populations for 16 years, but she started work as Familiar Faces’ program administrator this year. That past experience taught Michels that a people-centered approach goes a long way, and she believes their work has built trust with vulnerable residents. But current gaps in the county’s health systems are frustrating.
“[It’s] overwhelming,” Michels said of coverage lapses in Ramsey County, adding that many organizations lack the funds to make a difference. “It makes you want to pull the covers over your head.”
In 2018 officials launched the Community Outreach and Stabilization (COAST) unit within the St. Paul Police Department to address some of those gaps. The unit paired mental health practitioners with officers, offering guidance and referrals for people the police interact with. That unit phased out this year when contractors declined to renew their agreement with the city.