Minnesota Homeless Study shows who makes up the unhoused population in the state
MINNEAPOLIS — Homelessness is a difficult issue to quantify, but for more than three decades the Wilder Foundation has been trying to do just that through the Minnesota Homeless Study.
It's a statewide count taken on the last Thursday in October every three years.
"We know there are more folks on any given night that are homeless and we can't find, but it is a really comprehensive effort. We have a lot of people working to find as many people as we can on that particular night," Michelle Decker Gerrard, Senior Research Manager/Co-Director of the Minnesota Homeless Study, said.
The latest study completed in 2023 found 10,522 Minnesotans were experiencing homelessness — down 7% from a record high in 2018 — but still, the second highest since the study started in 1991.
"I think the most startling thing demographically is that 7 in 10 people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota are Native American or people of color. That's really shocking considering the demographics of our state," Decker Gerrard said.
She says they're getting better insights into the problem thanks to a new partnership with six tribes in the state.
"It points to a lack of affordable housing for those communities and barriers for getting into housing," Decker Gerrard said.
The study found about a third of people experiencing homelessness are not in a formal shelter. Families still make up nearly half of the population and there are fewer children, but more adults are experiencing homelessness today compared to 2018.
"I do think there is that perception that it's just an urban issue," Decker Gerrard said.
About a third of the state's homeless population is in Greater Minnesota. People there are found to move around more and suffer from long-term homelessness.
"Those that we spoke to in Greater Minnesota had even more severe issues that they were dealing with than people in the metro, so issues of physical health, mental health, chemical dependency, childhood trauma," Decker Gerrard said. "If you have really good information about the changing needs of the population, you can respond accordingly. And we're really the only place in the country that's been able to do this kind of cutting-edge work."