A private donor is stepping up to help save a downtown Minneapolis homeless shelter that was on the brink of closing.
The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, is giving $1.5 million to match the city of Minneapolis’ pledge to provide emergency funding for repairs needed to save Agate Housing and Services’ century-old building at 510 S. 8th St. and its heavily used food shelf at 714 Park Av.
The 510 building had 42 emergency shelter beds for men and 95 board and lodge beds — a form of temporary housing for homeless people unable to lease an apartment in the private market — and had been scheduled to be vacated on Oct. 9 due to plumbing problems and other capital needs rendering the building increasingly uninhabitable.
“I am amazed by these developments,” said Agate executive director Kyle Hanson in a statement. “I truly thought this shelter for those facing homelessness would be closed for good. This weighed very heavily on me and the staff. We know how much these beds are needed.”
The Minneapolis City Council agreed last week to allocate $1.5 million in emergency funding to Agate, contingent on finding a match to come up with the minimum $3 million required. The 10-3 vote was contentious, with Council Members Linea Palmisano, LaTrisha Vetaw and Michael Rainville opposed. Mayor Jacob Frey has not yet signed the resolution.
Arguing against the funding, Palmisano erroneously said that the permanent closure of the 510 shelter would have no effect on unsheltered homelessness, saying, “This type of housing at 510 is not going to house people coming from encampments, and that is not the type of shelter it is. It does not have any coordinated entry into it.”
Coordinated entry is a process of helping homeless people find placements in permanent housing based on prioritizing the most vulnerable. Homeless people living unsheltered in encampments need not go through coordinated entry to find a spot in any of Hennepin County’s emergency shelters, including the 510 building.
The loss of emergency shelter beds reduces opportunities for people living in the encampments to move inside.