The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that 6,461 Minnesotans experienced sheltered homelessness during the designated point in time in 2021, up from 5,991 in 2020.
We don’t see the large camps where people without permanent housing live. The city disbands them but if you know where to look you will see people sleeping in building entryways downtown and there are tents in the city parks and sometimes hidden along the freeway entrances. There are also cars and vans parked in discrete locations that are being used as housing.
Last spring I noticed a couple was living in the coral that used to house the dumpsters for a now vacant fast-food restaurant. The unhoused are still out there they just are not as visible as they were in 2020.
