One of the many ways Hennepin County (Minn.) Commissioner Gail Dorfman publicized a special meeting to hear the concerns of the county’s homeless was to promise them a free dinner, catered from Buca Restaurant, a popular Minneapolis eatery.
“I love Buca food,” one homeless attendee was overheard saying.
When asked if he had ever eaten there, the man replied, “No, but I hit your dumpster all the time.”
Unsanitary eating habits was just one of the many issues discussed at the county’s meeting on Jan. 10, which attracted more than 250 of the area’s homeless to the commissioners’ board room in Minneapolis.
The effort was orchestrated by Dorfman, who invited the other county commissioners, the mayor of Minneapolis and city council members. The two-and-a-half hour meeting allowed time for 45 homeless members of the community to express their concerns.
“Many said there are lots of things that work well, and there are things they struggle with on a daily basis,” Dorfman said. “We heard issues we think we can do something about.”
Dorfman embarked on her effort after a homeless man walked into the county offices and complained that officials were talking with homeless advocates but not homeless people themselves.
From there, the county began an aggressive advertising campaign for the meeting by going to shelters, handing out flyers at homeless camps, and sending some homeless people out to spread the word.
As a result of the meeting, Hennepin plans to address the issue of getting local law enforcement and neighborhoods to work with, not against, the homeless population. Police arrest many homeless for loitering and often confiscate their identification, Dorfman said. Without an ID, many homeless cannot stay at a shelter. And without an address, it’s difficult to obtain a job, so it’s back to loitering on the streets again.
One teen noted that, because of age requirements, she can’t even get into homeless shelters and is forced to live in the streets, while one homeless man said he works nights and, because of shelter hours, has no place to sleep during the day. Dorfman said some of these concerns are easily fixable.
The county operates a family shelter, several single shelters, and works closely with shelters owned by religious organizations. While most board members believe shelters need to do more, Commissioner Penny Steele said homeless people also need to assume certain responsibilities to get themselves into better living situations.
“You get a variety of people whose situations are quite unique. Some make you annoyed and some you sympathize with,” Steele said. “My impression is that shelters don’t ask them to do enough. I may be a minority view on our board, but I’m a promoter of giving them help and moving them along.”
Dorfman said the county’s job is to make sure the homeless have a clear access point into the system. She said the meeting, and the attendees’ “surprising honesty about their mental health and substance abuse issues” was a great way to start making life better for thousands of people in Hennepin County.
Hennepin keeps its shelters open year round for a population that, on any given night, includes: 7,000 homeless who stay in shelters, 1,400 who stay on the streets or under bridges, and 13,000 who stay temporarily at the homes of friends or relatives.
Each December, the county holds a memorial service honoring the homeless who have died in the past year. Dorfman said about 100 die every year, many from the cold Minnesota winters. She said it’s a tough county to be homeless in.
(To contact Commissioner Dorfman about Hennepin County’s efforts, call (612) 348-7883 or e-mail gail.dorfman@hennepin.mn.us. A good Web site to locate resources throughout the nation for homeless people is www.hud.gov/homeless/hmlsagen.cfm.)
