The People’s Home: How Anishinabe Wakiagun is Ending Long-Term Homelessness

Please note that this project is featured in CSH's Toolkit for Ending Long-Term Homelessness, including a profile on designing for tenants.

About the Housing:  Anishinabe Wakiagun demonstrates an approach to providing safe, affordable service-supported housing for homeless people with chronic alcohol addiction through a “harm reduction”, permanent housing model. Type of Housing: Permanent Supportive Housing Number of Units of Housing:  40 single-room occupancy units, each housing one person, in a single building in a neighborhood on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. Housing Approach:  A service agency partnered with an experienced nonprofit housing developer to develop the project, which included site acquisition and construction of a new building.

Sponsors of Project: Two agencies partnered in the development of Anishinabe Wakiagun:

American Indian Housing Corporation (AIHC) is an outgrowth of the American Indian Task Force on Housing and Homelessness, which formed around 1991 to identify the housing needs for the homeless native American population in Minneapolis.  Its primary mission is to identify and provide safe, affordable housing for American Indians. http://www.aicdc.org/ 

Project for Pride in Living (PPL) was founded in 1972 by a group of volunteers who worked in two neighborhoods to fix up rundown houses.  Today it offers affordable housing and support services to 800 people, and manages more than 350 units of housing.
http://www.ppl-inc.org/

How it came about:  The idea for the housing began with AIHC, which found that most American Indians who were homeless were single adults, chemically dependent, and were staying, not in shelters, but outside or in detox.  In September 1996, Anishinabe Wakiagun (“The People’s Home” in the language of the Anishinabe Tribe) was developed to meet a need not being met by programs that require sobriety before a person can get access to housing.  The project was developed to meet the needs of late-stage chronic inebriates who cannot make it into these other programs.

Goals and Philosophy of the Housing:  The goal of Anishinabe Wakiagun is to provide housing and stability for homeless chronic inebriates in a “low demand” environment that offers a healthier setting than the street.  Anishinabe Wakiagun is considered to be housing of last resort for chronic inebriates.  Staff are diligent in trying to determine if there are other options for those who are homeless but not chronic inebriates, including people who are addicted to drugs other than alcohol.

Residents do not need to be sober but it is encouraged.  The project tries to allow people to make their own choices.  It is based on the philosophy that even if a person cannot get sober they can still contribute to the community and to society. 

Tenancy Profile:  Tenants are single adults.  Thirty units are for males, 10 for females.  All tenants were formerly homeless, mostly from the streets and detox.  All are chronic alcoholics.  The housing is designed primarily to serve homeless Native Americans.  Very few, if any, of the tenants abuse drugs other than alcohol.  Almost all are unemployed, and about 20% receive SSI/SSDI or other benefits.  Tenants do not have to be engaged in services prior to entry into the housing, nor do they have to meet a sobriety requirement.  Most are not in active treatment.  Over 50% of residents have never held a job, and over 50% have never before had permanent housing.  About 75% of the tenants are self-referred, and 20% are referrals from the county’s detox center.  Applicants are rejected if references indicate they are violent or dangerous.

Physical Description of the Housing:  Anishinabe Wakiagun’s 40 units are located in a single building. It is a 3-story structure located on the edge of a park.  Units are small 142 sq. ft. single-room-occupancy units.  Tenants share common bathrooms on each floor.  There are no kitchen facilities for the use of tenants.  A congregate dining facility with commercial kitchen provides daily meals.  There is an on-site common room and arts and crafts room for use by tenants and a supervised entry.  Video cameras monitor halls, entry way and common spaces.  The building also includes a common laundry, social service offices, management office, and central air conditioning.

Service Description: The project now has one program coordinator/case manager.  It originally had two but management found that the kinds of case management that residents allow them to do is fairly low key.  The focus is largely on health and medical issues.  In addition to case management, on-site services include new tenant orientation, daily living skills assistance, entitlement program s assistance/benefits counseling, peer-to-peer mentoring and support, and crisis intervention.  There are also recreational/socialization opportunities such as movies, pow wow, community garden, arts and crafts etc. that are available to residents who must be sober when participating in these events.  Residents are encouraged to participate in activities, keep their rooms clean, and keep in contact with family members.  Participation in services is not a condition of tenancy.  Services are available for as long as is needed by the individual tenant. Meals are also provided which has resulted in some tenants drinking less since they often drank when they were hungry.

Property Management: Property management staff for the project includes an on-site program manager, maintenance/ janitorial workers, and food service staff.  There is 24-hour coverage of the front desk.

Eligibility Criteria/Lease/Occupancy Agreement/Rent:  The units are considered permanent in that tenants have leases and there is no length of stay limitation.  Tenants sign a month to month lease on entry.  The lease includes an assignment of the residents’ General Assistance/SSI/SSDI benefits except for a personal needs stipend.  The lease provides that a unit can be considered abandoned if the tenant does not occupy it for a set number of days.

While sobriety is not required, no alcohol is allowed in the building’s public spaces or on the property outside the building.  Drug use is not tolerated.  The average length of stay is 6 months to 1 year.  Most evictions during Anishinabe Wakiagun’s first 18 months were for physically violent behavior.

Community Acceptance History/Strategy:  The project is located in the Phillips neighborhood, which has the lowest income and highest crime rate in the city.  When it was proposed, the project ran into community resistance due in large part to a  lack of understanding about the population to be served and the goals of the project.  Many who found out the details of what AIHC was proposing became supporters.  The recovery community originally felt the project would enable the proposed residents, shielding them from the consequences of their behavior.  However, Anishinabe Wakiagun serves a population that has “hit bottom” - are no longer able to work, are shunned by and have lost contact with families, have lost their health, and understand survival only as being able to get a drink.  Once people understood the population, they also understood the rationale that it is cheaper to house chronic alcoholics than to let them live outside, and they are less troublesome to the community.  Experience has proven this to be the case - a recent evaluation of the project indicates that, for the tenants, there has been a 90% reduction in detox center use and a 30% reduction in emergency room use.  AIHC’s advice for those facing siting issues: let people know what’s going on early and keep talking all the time, especially to those who don’t like you- sometimes critics have insight.

Project Financing:
Development type: New Construction
Development total budget: Approx. $3.4 million ($85,000/unit)
Development sources and amounts: 

Predevelopment funding sources: Corporation for Supportive Housing
Operating Sources:  

• HUD SHP operating subsidy
• Operating reserve funded by approx. $600,000 in equity syndication funds
• Minnesota Group Residential Housing Program.  This pays for room, board, meals and other related service expenses for residents of drug and mental health treatment programs, board and lodge facilities and adult foster care homes.  The reimbursement rate is set at $1,001/client/month, which is $575 for room and board and $426 for services.

Services Sources:

• State and county service grants ($40,000 annually, 2-year grants)
• HUD SHP grant for services to tenants in 40 units for 3 years
• Minnesota Group Residential Housing Program (see operating sources)

Term of guaranteed housing affordability:  minimum 15 years, maximum 30 years.

Lessons Learned/Advice for Others:

AIHC was taken by surprise by the number of non-residents in and out of the building every day.  The reason, they discovered, is that while non-Indians who are chronic inebriates tend to be loners and drink alone, Indians tend to drink together in groups.  This caused the project to totally rethink visitor policy.

They started an art program to provide mentoring and studio space for residents with artistic ability.  It didn’t work because residents who wanted to do artwork did so in their rooms and had little interest in anyone mentoring them.

For more information on Anishinabe Wakiagun, contact:
Kelby Grovender
Anishinabe Wakiagun
1600 East 19th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55404
(612) 871-2883
(612) 871-0803 Fax
wakiagun@qwest.net