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House of Charity Breaks Ground on New Housing
for the Homeless
Minneapolis, Minnesota (September 4, 2019) – House
of Charity’s ground breaking ceremony is Tuesday, September
10th at 3:00 p.m. for its Park7 building, located
at 615 South 7th Street, Minneapolis. This new building will
add 61 studio apartments with on-site services for people
experiencing homelessness in Minneapolis.
House of Charity is
honored to have Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota
Housing Finance Agency Assistant Commissioner - Multifamily
Division James Lehnhoff, Minneapolis City Council
Member Lisa Goodman, Dan Colison, Executive Director of East
Town Business Partnership, and Teresa Rasmussen, President
and CEO of Thrivent Financial speak at the ground breaking
and share their passion and support for this critical
housing in Minneapolis.
Park7 will be a welcome addition to the fight to end
homelessness. It is being built at a time when homelessness
is still a crisis, but a solvable one. According to the 2018
Wilder Homelessness in Minnesota study there are 4,072
people experiencing homelessness on any given night in
Hennepin County, 1,741 are experiencing long-term
homelessness.
Park7 will be a four-story building with 61 smoke-free and
pet friendly efficiency apartments for people experiencing
long-term homelessness. The apartments range from 350 – 430
square feet. All 61 units are reserved for permanent
affordable housing including ten for veterans, ten for young
adults aged 18 – 24, and ten for people who are disabled or
dual diagnosis of substance use disorder and mental illness.
Tenants will have 24-hour access to services including case
managers on each of the three floors to help tenants make
plans to retain housing and move to greater independence.
They will also provide access to benefits, neighborhood
orientation, and referrals for financial management,
employment services and health care services. In addition,
tenants will be in close proximity to other community
support including Hennepin County Medical Center across the
street, light rail two blocks away, the VA Medical Center on
the blue line, and House of Charity’s Food Centre and
addiction and mental health outpatient treatment services a
half block away. Affordable housing paired with supportive
services is a proven strategy that increases housing
stability for people experiencing long-term homelessness.
The building will be completed summer 2020.
House
of Charity is
partnering with Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC)
to develop the building and Urban Works is the project
architect.
“House of Charity has decades of experience providing
services to the homeless in downtown Minneapolis,” says
Heidi Rathmann, Senior Vice President of CHDC. “What CHDC
brings is the experience of developing and owning supportive
housing developments. Our role is to help House of Charity
carry out its mission and to make its vision for this
project a reality.”
Special thanks to Minnesota
Housing Finance Agency, the National Housing Trust Fund, the
City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, the Metropolitan
Council, and private donors for
their $11,222,000 in financial support of this critical
expansion in Downtown Minneapolis.
“This project is a great example of what we can achieve when
we collaborate. Public and private partners came together to
address the need for more housing that is affordable in our
community,” said James Lehnhoff, Assistant Commissioner,
Multifamily Division with Minnesota Housing. “We are excited
to support a new building that provides deeper
affordability, on-site services, and connections throughout
the community.”
An extra thank you to Thrivent Financial for their gift of
$1 million that enables House of Charity to fully furnish
the building and provide other amenities.
“House of Charity serves an important role in the Elliot
Park/East Town neighborhood, and we’re honored to support
them as they fulfill their mission to feed those in need,
house those experiencing homelessness and empower
individuals to achieve independence,” said Teresa Rasmussen,
president and CEO of Thrivent. “We at Thrivent know that
together we can make a difference by creating strong
families, churches and communities.”
“House of Charity has been providing comprehensive services
to meet the needs of our homeless community since 1953. It
has always been the vision of the program to work towards
ending homelessness in our community,” said Deb Moses,
CEO/Executive Director of House of Charity. “The building of
Park7 takes us one step closer in realizing that vision by
providing
61 homeless individuals with a permanent housing solution
combined with high quality support services to meet the
needs of each individual served, in order to assist in
maintaining stability and independence in their lives.”
For updates on House
of Charity’s Park7 building, visit https://www.houseofcharity.org/expandinghope
Founded in 1953, House of
Charity’s mission is: Feed those in need, house those
experiencing homelessness, and empower individuals to
achieve independence. Our vision is to transform lives
– one person at a time. With a variety of programs in
housing, treatment, health and case management, and a Food
Centre that provides free meals 365 days a year, House of
Charity helps some of the most vulnerable people move off
the streets and toward self-sufficiency. To learn more,
visit www.houseofcharity.org.
Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) has
provided stability to Minnesota residents and communities
for more than 25 years as a nonprofit developer and is the
owner of 44 properties with more than 4,000 affordable
units.
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