Earlier this summer, the Minnesota Housing Board of Directors approved a $1.5 million Homework Starts with Home (HSWH) grant to Hennepin County, $900,000 of which will support Stable Homes Stable Schools (SHSS). This funding will expand SHSS’ housing stabilization programming to an additional ~115 families and expand its existing Parent Advisory Councils (PAC), creating a new PAC for those receiving housing stabilization services from October 2025 through the end of September 2027.
Homework Starts with Home grants fund local community partners helping students achieve academic success by obtaining and maintaining stable housing. This is the second HSWH grant MPHA has received for SHSS, with the first grant award in August 2020.
“We are thankful Minnesota Housing and Hennepin County continue to invest in Stable Homes Stable Schools as a tool to interrupt the cycle of intergenerational homelessness and education instability,” said Brandon Crow, Director of Housing Choice Vouchers at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “Stable Homes Stable Schools is a perfect example of what’s possible when state, local, and philanthropic partners are aligned around a common goal. We look forward to expanding the critical work of ending student homelessness in Minneapolis with this new funding.”
Stable Homes Stable Schools’ housing stabilization services help families avoid homelessness with emergency short- or medium-term assistance. Assistance can include back pay of rent, helping pay for fixing a car needed to get to work, or other forms of assistance to keep families in their current housing. This tool is key to preventing homelessness before it happens and has supported 2,011* families, helping 5,527* children avoid homelessness since SHSS’ inception.
Beyond financial support, SHSS provides one-on-one case management services addressing families’ financial empowerment, tenant readiness, and education and employment development. This combined approach helps families remove barriers to housing stability and prepare them for self-sufficiency.
Additionally, the HSWH grant will expand SHSS PACs, which allows program administrators to hear directly from participants and their families. The program’s English- and Spanish- speaking PACs create the space for families to share their experience and act as consultants, recommending program improvements. This new grant funding will create a new PAC for those receiving housing stabilization services, support staffing to coordinate the new and existing PACs, and cover PAC participant stipends.
This $900,000 award from Minnesota Housing builds on a $350,000 grant from the Pohlad Family Foundation received earlier this year also supporting SHSS’ housing stabilization programming. Additionally, SHSS’ effective, innovative approach to addressing student homelessness continues to grow in national prominence, with the City of Denver using SHSS as the model for the recently concluded Denver Housing Stability Pilot.
Stable Homes Stable Schools is a pioneering partnership between MPHA, the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), along with the YMCA of the North as the service partner, working to reduce homelessness among families with elementary-aged kids in Minneapolis. The program is a holistic approach to addressing homelessness through prevention (emergency short- and medium-term assistance) and intervention (multi-year rental assistance and support services). Since 2019, SHSS has supported more than 2,300 families, representing over 6,400 children.
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SHSS is a referral-based program. Anyone interested in learning more about participating in SHSS should contact their MPS social workers to determine eligibility.
*As of June 30, 2025
