Cooler Weather Adds Challenges to St. Cloud Area Homeless

Cooler temperatures this week and winter on the horizon puts a focus on the homeless population in the St. Cloud area.  I was joined by Benton County Commissioner Steve Heinen, Victoria Blonigen from Benton County Outreach and Benton County Human Services Director Sandy Shoberg.  Shoberg says they are finding housing for some but continue to see new homeless people in the area.  She says "it's a never ending stream of people".  Shoberg indicates there are some that move out of homelessness while others fall into it.  She says are others who are "chronically homeless".  Shoberg says the chronically homeless typically are the ones we see on the streets who are fighting chemical addictions and/or mental health challenges.

Temporary Homeless

Shoberg says those that are temporarily homeless often times have lost their job, their housing or other reasons.  Blonigen says a lot of these homeless individuals are couch hoping, living with family or living in the vehicle.  She says to help people out of homelessness, they need to know about the resources available to them.  Blonigen says this can include financial assistance, food support and to let them know about the homeless shelters in the community.  That being said, Blonigen says the shelters in the St. Cloud area are full.

New Facility

Avivo Village is a new shelter that plans to open in St. Cloud in 2026.  It will have 48 beds and will offer a variety of services.  Ground was broken on the construction of that facility near St. Cloud Financial Credit Union and across from Brigitta's Restaurant last month.  Blonigen says the new facility will help because it offers more housing and more resources.

Some positives

Heinen says everyone needs to get together to help solve the homeless problem in the area.  He says in regards to discussion on this topic "we're getting there". Shoberg says the four counties in the St. Cloud area now have homeless outreach workers, which is new within the last 5 years.

Overflow Beds

The city of St. Cloud allows some of the shelters to have overflow beds once the temperature reaches 42 degrees of lower.  That happened this morning.  Shoberg says both Place of Hope and the Salvation Army have overflow beds as of today for the rest of fall and the winter months.  She says that means they will have room for an extra 50 people at each location.  Shoberg says this helps but some will stay away because of the noise, crowds and the lack of some shelters allowing pets.

Churches Offering Assistance?

Last winter area churches offered housing to homeless people for a limited time.  Shoberg doesn't expect that to happen this year.  She says the reason for the change is they are hoping that the new overflow rule will help.  The churches also indicates it was a lot of work and took a lot of resources.

How to Help

If people would like to help the homeless population Shoberg and Blonigen urge individuals to reach out to area shelters to donate financial help, or winter clothing like coats, hats, gloves, and mittens.  They also say shelters would love to see volunteers who could donate their time.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Steve, Victoria and Sandy, click below.