Last week, The Minneapolis Foundation announced a grant award of $400,000 to Stable Homes Stable Schools (SHSS) through the foundation’s OneMPLS Fund. The award is part of a larger $500,000 grant to Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), supporting housing stability programming designed to support educational outcomes and end cycles of generational poverty for students and their families over the next two years.
With SHSS experiencing a significant increase in referrals in recent months, the funding comes at a critical time. The $400,000 granted funds will support the expansion of program eligibility to families earning below 50 percent Area Median Income (AMI), up from less than 30 percent AMI, ensuring that more children at risk of housing related educational disruptions are able to fully engage in their lessons and classrooms.
Stable Homes Stable Schools is a pioneering partnership between MPHA, the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and MPS, along with the YMCA of the North as the service partner, working to reduce homelessness among families with elementary-aged kids in Minneapolis and improve immediate and long term educational outcomes for students impacted by housing instability. 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, more than 7,500* kids and 2,700* families have benefited from the program.
More than 2,360* families, like the Alexander family, have received emergency short- or medium-term assistance through SHSS’ housing stabilization program. Housing stabilization helps families avoid homelessness with emergency assistance which could 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 helped 6,500* children avoid homelessness since SHSS’ inception.
Another 340* families, like the Albert and Lige families, have received multi-year rental help through SHSS’ housing placement and support program. This multi-year rental assistance and wraparound services help families escape or avoid homelessness and aids them in securing stable, long-term affordable housing. This includes housing search and tenant education to secure affordable housing in the private rental market. 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.
This $400,000 award from the Minneapolis Foundation builds on numerous grants and funding awarded to SHSS in 2025. Recent awards include a $900,000 from Minnesota Housing, $350,000 from the Pohlad Family Foundation, and the City of Minneapolis providing both a one-time and annual increase of $1.4 million, replenishing the program’s reserves while also bringing the city’s annual funding contribution to $3.6 million.
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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 March 31, 2026
