One of the major and most pressing issues in the United States is the problem of homelessness. Homelessness and housing instability can cause deep rooted trauma and put people in extremely dangerous situations, sometimes even leading to death in the most tragic cases. Minnesotans recognize this .
Ramsey County housing officials are making plans to close a homeless shelter, with 101 mostly-senior residents, at the end of November as federal COVID-19 relief dollars are beginning to run out.
COVID may increase youth homelessness across Twin Cities metro Katy Read, Star Tribune
Bob and Sue Downs remember many of them vividly.
The boy found huddled in a culvert under a street in downtown Chaska on a 10-below night, body temperature dangerously low. The boy who sneaked into the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and hid under a stage. The boy who slept under a Chanhassen bridge among scary dudes for six weeks after his mother, who struggled with mental illness, kicked him out for eating the last slice of pizza. When I speak to teachers, I tell them, These kids are in your classroom, and when they leave your classroom they don t go home, said Bob Downs, himself a retired middle-school teacher. The teachers eyes get wide.