Late last month, the Pohlad Family Foundation granted MPHA $250,000 to help fill a year-end funding gap for the agency’s Stable Homes Stable Schools (SHSS) program. With large back rent balances stemming from pandemic-related eviction moratoriums, rising rents, and an inadequate supply of deeply affordable housing in Minneapolis, the demand for the program has far exceeded budgeted levels. While MPHA and partners continue to support, invest in, and expand the program, assistance was needed to cover the shortfall. Enter the Pohlad Family Foundation, whose $250,000 emergency grant will allow SHSS to operate as intended into summer 2023, when new, increased funding is scheduled to be delivered.
“MPHA is thankful for community partners like The Pohlad Family Foundation for understanding the tremendous impact Stable Homes Stable Schools has in our community and for further investing in this critical program,” said Brandon Crow, Director of MPHA’s Housing Choice Voucher Department. “The Pohlad Family Foundation has been a primary supporter of the Stable Homes Stable Schools program from the beginning. This gap funding will allow MPHA to continue helping families, uninterrupted, until we receive new funding later this year. This program has been a stabilizing force for more than a thousand Minneapolis families—including thousands of children—helping keep families housed and children enrolled in school. I am deeply thankful for the support of our partners in delivering this critical support. My team sees the impact this program has on families every day, and we look forward to building on its success in 2023.”
“We believe that stable housing is foundational in life, and without it, children and families cannot realize their full potential,” said Susan Bass Roberts, Vice President and Executive Director of the Pohlad Family Foundation. “We are proud to support this program to ensure that students in Minneapolis Public Schools don’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep at night but can focus on what matters most at this stage in their lives – their education.”
A partnership between the City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Public Schools, Hennepin County, the YMCA, and MPHA, Stable Homes Stable Schools supports families experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness. Families are eligible for the program if their child/children are currently enrolled in MPS and need financial assistance to stay in their current home or need safe housing. Launching in 2019, the program has since served 1,305 families, totaling 3,691 children.
There are two tiers to the SHSS program. One-time assistance is used to prevent homelessness, which could include back pay of rent, fixing a car needed to get to work, or other forms of assistance to keep families in their current housing. The second tier is a three-year rental assistance program helping families escape or avoid homelessness and placing them into stable, long-term housing.
Stable Home Stable Schools continues to be a tremendous success for MPHA and Minneapolis families. In 2023, MPHA hopes to further expand the program, helping even more families I need. The agency continues to work with existing and potential new partners to build additional, stable funding for the program.
