On Tuesday, Nov. 9, at Veterans Plaza in St. Cloud, Gov. Tim Walz joined Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) Commissioner Larry Herke and St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis to celebrate a major milestone: the effective end to Veteran Homelessness in the state’s Central Continuum of Care (CoC).

This geographic area includes Benton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and Wright counties. Through multiple federal, state, county and city partnerships, these thirteen counties in the central portion of the state have cleared their Veterans housing wait lists. The Central MN CoC is now the seventh of 10 jurisdictions in the state to accomplish this goal.

Effectively ending Veteran homelessness in the Central MN CoC does not mean there will never be another homeless Veteran; rather, it means that efforts will largely be focused on prevention. A comprehensive plan and robust system of programs and services have been developed to help ensure that any Veteran experiencing homelessness in the region will get the timely support they need to make their situation brief and non-recurring.

Event guests included representatives from Veteran Service Organizations, local property development and management companies who have supported efforts to help provide housing for Veterans experiencing homelessness, and community partners and advocates who have pursued the ideal that every Veteran in Minnesota should have a safe place to call home.

Tim Poland, Coordinator, Central MN CoC, spoke about the need for designing individual housing plans based on each Veteran’s unique challenges and situations. Minnesota Veteran Dan Abrego shared his personal journey of finding housing utilizing the broad system of collaborations that have been developed.

MDVA has focused its efforts on identifying strategies, creating programs and services and tracking data to help end Veteran homelessness in the state. Since this coordinated work began in 2014, nearly 3,000 Veterans experiencing homelessness have been housed. MDVA’s focus has been on working with Veterans one Veteran at a time to reach this goal.

Currently, 84 of 87 Minnesota communities have achieved an effective end to Veteran homelessness. Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis counties continue to move forward with their planning and implementation to help Minnesota become the fourth state in the country to end Veteran homelessness. To learn more about this commitment, click here.