FAQs

Families Moving Forward is a program of Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation, an organization committed to ending homelessness.

What makes the Families Moving Forward shelter different from others?

Unlike most emergency shelters, the families in our shelter do not stay 24 hours a day in a central facility. Instead, our overnight services are provided in a network of local congregations.

Our families usually stay at each congregation for one week at a time. Each congregation, through their volunteers, provides: food, a room to sleep and fellowship.

During the day, the families make our Day Center their home base, going to and from school or jobs, and looking for employment or housing.

Families Moving Forward staff work hard with each family individually to provide support, resources and guidance.

Is Families Moving Forward successful in helping families find housing?

Yes. In 2011, 53 percent of families served moved from our program into housing. Unfortunately, some families do leave the program and continue their cycle of homelessness. However, our goal is that 75 percent of all families entering our program move into stable housing.

Where do the families come from?

About 50 percent of families come from Hennepin County, 40 percent from surrounding Minnesota counties and 10 percent from other areas.

How does a guest family spend its day?

Wake- up call: Families arise early Sunday through Friday, ready to ride the Families Moving Forward bus back to the Day Center by 7:30 AM. (On Saturday, the schedule is more relaxed, allowing time for a more leisurely breakfast.) Volunteers set out breakfast are always ready to help the parents get the children ready and on the bus on time.

Daytime: At the Day Center in north Minneapolis, guest families have storage lockers for their belongings and have free access to our laundry facilities, showers, kitchen, computers and books. School-age children go to school; adults with jobs go to work. Parents who are unemployed attend our financial literacy program, meet with the social worker to work on the goals the family has set and search for housing or employment.

Late afternoon: At the end of the day, everyone comes back to the Day Center in preparation for the bus ride back to the overnight host congregation. After helping to clean and tidy the Center's living room and kitchen, guests board the bus at 5:30 PM. At the hosting congregation, volunteers are ready with supper, conversation and toys for the children to play with. After working with the volunteers to clean up the supper dishes, guests make lunches for the next day and relax before everyone goes to bed. This includes one or two volunteers from the congregation, who stay to make sure that everyone stays safe and warm all night.

How big a problem is family homelessness in Minnesota? Is it growing or shrinking?

Homelessness is a growing problem, especially among families with children. The latest Wilder Foundation survey of Minnesota's population of homeless people which took place in August 2009 estimated 13,100 are homeless in Minnesota. About one-third are children. Today, homeless children outnumber Minnesota's entire homeless population from the original 1991 Wilder survey. In Minneapolis rental vacancy rates are

Are most homeless people on welfare and unemployed?

Homelessness is not limited to the unemployed. In 2009, the Wilder Foundation found that over one-third of all homeless parents in Minnesota reported that they were employed. However, over 40 percent of homeless adults have been unemployed for at least a year.

What causes homelessness? Is it poverty or the lack of affordable apartments?

Average Full-time salary $1,066.

Average Twin Cities rent $855. See a problem?

It is clear that homelessness is closely related to the scarcity of affordable housing. The Greater Twin Cities United Way has found that more than 36 percent of metropolitan area residents spend more than 30 percent of their total household income on housing costs today, giving these residents the dubious distinction of living in non-affordable housing. The result has been very low vacancy rates, increasing rents and application fees and severe competition for the available housing.

The result is that, for more families adequate housing is out of reach. The National Low Income Housing Coalition compares the average fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit to the average wages paid in that community to calculate the "Housing Wage" necessary so that a family spends no more than 30 percent of its income for housing, according to the standard definition of affordability. The Twin Cities housing wage is $17.54 per hour --  more than three times the minimum wage. Accordingly, a minimum wage worker would have to work 136 hours per week to be able to afford the average two-bedroom unit. Even the average efficiency apartment would require 83 hours per week of work by a minimum wage worker, in order to be considered affordable.

How does homelessness affect children?

Homelessness damages children. The Family Housing Fund conducted a survey of professional research on the effect of homelessness in 1999. They concluded that homeless children are not merely at risk of damage, most also suffer specific physical, psychological and emotional damage due to experiencing homelessness.

Physical health: Homeless children consistently exhibit more health problems, have higher risk for infectious diseases, are at greater risk for asthma and lead poisoning and generally lack access to consistent health care.

Emotional health: Homeless children suffer stresses and trauma that they are unprepared to handle, leading to severe emotional distress, higher incidence of mental disorders and frequent episodes of unacceptable behavior, although they usually do not have access to professional assistance for these problems.

Academic development: Homeless children's academic performance often is seriously affected by their poor physical and emotional health, as well as by the number of times that they are forced to change schools and teachers due to their family's unstable housing and frequent moves.

What is the demand for the Families Moving Forward shelter program?

Families Moving Forward averages between 250 and 300 calls for shelter per month. However, we are only able to take in a few families a month. More families need support than ever before.