Moorhead City Council Approves $8.5 Million Apartment for Homeless

Moorhead’s City Council has approved an $8.5 million apartment complex for the homeless.

Churches United says the face of homelessness may not be what everyone thinks.

They spent two years trying to get this project off the ground before finally getting the green light from the city.
 
“Many people that live at the shelter are working people, they simply have barriers,” Churches United for the Homeless Community Center Director Lisa Lipari says.
 
She tells us the apartment is for people experiencing chronic homelessness, and we see these homeless people in places we might not expect.
 
“The face of homelessness are people that you might meet every day. They could be that checkout person at the grocery store, the gas station attendant.
Families, children, employed people, and what we’re seeing too is sometimes we get elderly, and sometimes we do get veterans as well,” Lipari says.
 
They’re saying the apartment is more than just a temporary living space.
 
“This is a permanent home, one thing that we have been trying to make really clear is that this isn’t another shelter, this is an apartment building,” Lipari says.
 
“The shelter will continue to exist as a shelter. The shelter here I think will function more and more as a bridge between folks who are experiencing active homelessness, and then housing stability which is the goal,” Churches United for the Homeless Executive Director Sue Koesterman says.
 
“By virtue of people having a lease and living there, they have a permanent address,” Lipari says.
 
“My hope is that people will be able to be housed at a more rapid manner,” Koesterman says.
 
They say they’re breaking ground sometime this fall, and plan on finishing the apartment by the fall of 2017.