What To Expect At The Central Minnesota Homeless Summit

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A Central Minnesota Homeless Summit has been scheduled for next week. Faith in Housing, a coalition of faith groups in the St. Cloud area that works to end homelessness, will be meeting on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. at Atonement Lutheran Church in St. Cloud.

The objectives of the summit are to inform the community about the current state of homelessness in central Minnesota, examine the impact of current and upcoming funding cuts, and talk about how individuals and organizations can help.

Pastor John Gabrielson says they will be addressing the short-term needs as we enter the cold weather months. There used to be a Church of the Week program through the Place of Hope, but because churches don't have infrastructure to house people overnight, Gabrielson says that's not a good solution.

We just want to have something that's a little more durable. Give people places to sleep where they know where they are going to wake up in the morning. If they can have a place to be where they know they aren't going to get moved after a week or two.

Gabrielson says The Place of Hope has received a Community Development Block Grant from the city that will hopefully help address the shortage of available beds at the various homeless shelters in town.

And that provides additional staffing. We have people doing what we call overflow, where basically they sleep on a rollout mat in the hallway or the cafeteria. It's the same thing as the church; it's just all at the Place of Hope or Salvation Army now.

Gabrielson says Atonement Lutheran Church members have been volunteering to help renovate spaces inside The Place of Hope. Avivo is currently building a new shelter in St. Cloud, but that won't be open this winter.

Read More: Avivo Village To Support Homeless In Central Minnesota |

Gabrielson says the St. Cloud area is always short on beds for the homeless population, with about 30 to 40 people not having access to a designated place to sleep.

Gabrielson says prayers are powerful.

It might not always have an immediate impact on change in the world, but prayer can change you right away. Get you tuned in to God's attitude toward our neighbors who are homeless. The things that separate them from us are pretty small. A little bit of bad luck and any one of us could be in trouble and need help.

Besides addressing the short-term needs of the homeless population during the upcoming winter, the longer-term issues that will need to be addressed include mental health and addiction, as well as the housing supply shortage that prevents people from moving into stable housing.

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Representatives from Catholic Charities, Lincoln Center, Lutheran Social Services, Place of Hope, Salvation Army, TriCap, and city and county leaders will be at the summit on Tuesday.

The summit is free and open to anyone interested in the topic. To register, email Kris Boyle at kkb72mom@aol.com.