Recent data shows that nearly half of Minnesota's homeless adults have jobs, highlighting the severity of the state's housing crisis.
Taylor Rivera is exploring the potential solutions and contributing factors in a WCCO-In Depth series, "More Than a Paycheck."
Many people who struggle with homelessness hide their situation, perhaps living in their cars or with friends. And often making them invisible to the systems designed to help.
St. Paul-based nonprofit Small Sums has outfitted thousands of individuals experiencing homelessness with work gear, training, and transportation they need to get and keep their jobs.
"No one is going to think about their coworker who's potentially sleeping in their car," Small Sums Executive Director Leika Pierre-Louis explains. "There are a lot of people who are working 9 to 5. But no one knows after work they just drive the car somewhere and park there and sleep."
Small Sums helps these people keep their jobs by discreetly verifying employment without revealing their housing status.
The work also shows the urgent need for broader systemic change to help those still on the streets find housing.
The cost of housing is pricing out many low-income Minnesotans
In Minnesota, a full-time worker needs to earn an average of $23 an hour to be able to afford a one bedroom rental at a fair market rate - without being burdened.
The cost, according to a former unhoused Minnesota resident Master Kato, who was helped by the organization Small Sums, the process of moving from the streets to stable housing can feel chaotic.
"Working is mandatory," says Kato. "It's the essence of life. You can't live on air or just hope alone. It's expensive to be homeless. That's what people don't understand. You gotta pay for hotel rooms. God forbid you're a mother and you have children. You can call 211, You can do coordinated housing. It's steps. It's steps."
After years of support, Kato finally has a stable place to live, but he says things like stagnant wages made the journey from the streets to a home a marathon, and not a sprint.
Lack of housing exacerbates the mental health crisis
Community organizations are fighting to close the gap between the working homeless and stable housing.
Tatyana Finklea of Catholic Charities Twin Cities says daily hardships like mental health struggles can keep them stuck in the shelter system.
"Just being unsheltered itself can create some increased mental health that instability may mean that you're not going to your doctor's appointments," says Finklea. "You're not doing the things that you need to do to take care of yourself."
She says these issues are made worse by the news that the Housing Stabilization Services program is being shut down.
Earlier this year, a federal investigation revealed that many providers defrauded Minnesota's Housing Stabilization Program and that system. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), under the guidance of its own DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), moved to terminate the Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program following the discovery of that fraud.
That program is intended to help people find and keep housing. Housing Stabilization Services is a new Minnesota Medical Assistance benefit to help people with disabilities, including mental illness and substance use disorder, and seniors find and keep housing.
"My fear is without another immediate implementation, we will have thousands of people who will not be able to get the supports that they need," Finklea adds.
Finklea says mental health will continue to play a significant role in chronic homelessness, with one study showing that 60% of homeless adults in Minnesota struggle with their mental health.
Even with support, challenges run deep
35-year old Ivan Jackson, a father of two, came to Minnesota for better opportunities and found a job, but still needed a shelter bed.
He's now sharing his story of juggling fatherhood with his search for stable housing.
"It does make it really hard," Jackson explains. "It plays on your subconscious some days like, oh my gosh, am I a bad father? I haven't seen my children in three days, but I have five days of work."
Jackson says even with support from shelter workers, many people are left to navigate a system with few specific programs to help the working homeless.
"Just because we're in this situation, our outside responsibilities don't stop for the working person. It's just a housing situation," says Jackson.
This month, Ivan will move out of the shelter and into stable housing. He joins the over 2,500 people who transitioned to permanent housing in Hennepin County within the last year.