Affordable Housing Project in Minneapolis Empowers Residents to Find their Place
last updated on Thursday, May 9, 2024 in Affordable Housing
Affordable Housing Project: Anishinabe III
Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Project Type: Rental New Construction
- AHP Grant Amount: $800,000
- Total AHP Units: 40
- Member: Woodlands National Bank
- Housing Sponsor: American Indian Community Development Corporation
- Completed in 2021
Video Transcript:
My name is Thunderbird Woman, Hunger Clan, I come from Sioux City, Iowa. I came from Des Moines, Iowa. I was living on the streets there, and I was for a long time, about seven or eight years. I was living in my car. I had got into the Salvation Army downtown and they had put me on the coordinated entry services list for a place that I could get substance use help with.
I was one of the second people to move into this building. They told me that I could move in somewhere and that it was all brand new and that I would have my own room and a bed. I was pretty excited.
We developed and started it in, I believe, 2020, and then in 2021 it was completed and we opened the doors in December and that impact was towards the opioid stigma. Without this phase of the project, phase three, we would not be able to address the needs of the community based on the opioid addiction. And that in itself impacts a lot of individuals that have been told no and been turned away.
We meet them where they're at when they come in, but one is never treated differently than the other because of who they are, where they come from, their background, their nationality, like none of that. They're just a person. They're just a person who needs help, and if it wasn't for this place, I don't know where they would be.
Our programs are permanent supportive housing here. It takes a while to get out of that survivability mode and get them back into like a more stabilized environment where they're comfortable in.
Just being here was kind of seeing everybody else in addiction. It was hard. It was hard watching them, and I just felt like I needed to make a change and maybe help somebody else. And them just helping me made me feel empowered and that somebody cared.
A lot of them do consider this their family.
I just love that this place has the ceremonial grounds are right here, right beside here. I was there every sweat, every drum group in that lodge, that wigwam.
Having financial resources, when you're dealing with social services, you don't always get all the funds needed to complete the projects that you would like to initiate and move forward in the progress. So sometimes you need partners like the bank that kind of can bridge those two avenues together and get to completion of the programing so you can initiate services that impact the community by connecting them back to cultural practices, connecting them to a home environment where they may not have ever had an individual unit.
I got that help. I sought it out and I prayed for it. It led me to back to my culture and back to my identity and back to me.
Since inception, we have served 134 individuals. They've had a place where they can call home and move forward with their life. You're saving people's lives and you're addressing the community as a whole with the most vulnerable population.
Very grateful we have partners like you who can help us meet the needs of the community.
TAGS
- Affordable Housing Program
- Community Investment Programs