Housing Stability
View housing services and support for those experiencing homelessness
Ramsey County Housing Stability administers and coordinates emergency supportive services to individuals and families experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness, or housing instability, to ensure that people’s basic needs are met while working towards long-term housing stability. In partnership with key community partners, Housing Stability works to reduce barriers, eliminate racial disparities and maximize resources that create pathways to long-term, affordable housing.
The goals of Housing Stability include:
- Align all resources along the housing continuum for eviction prevention, unsheltered and sheltered homelessness and supportive housing in one department.
- Align housing efforts with our Economic Competitiveness & Inclusion Plan.
- Eliminate racial disparities in homelessness and housing instability.
- Serve as a collaborative partner with community members, planners and other housing service providers.
Key initiatives
Since the closure of the Ramsey County shelters that were stood up during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramsey County has continued to work closely with a network of government, nonprofit, public safety, business and other community partners to address the crisis of unsheltered homelessness in our County. Key department initiatives include:
- The operation of Winter Warming Spaces to provide an indoor place for unsheltered individuals, youth, and families to spend the night and transportation to and from these warming spaces.
- The creation of a Shelter Entry & Diversion team to provide a single point of contact and navigation to the right resources for anyone experiencing homelessness in Ramsey County, provide diversion services to single adults to prevent unnecessary entries into homelessness, and provide shelter reservations to single adults who need them for the coming night.
- Navigation support and coordination of critical eviction or homeless prevention resources for people in Housing Court or at risk of eviction or housing instability.
- Site-based navigation and service coordination functions throughout the community including at the Saint Paul Opportunity Center, the Family Service Center, youth drop-in spaces and at Saint Paul and suburban schools.
Operations team
- Provides navigational support for people experiencing homelessness to access financial resources including Emergency Assistance, General Assistance, SNAP food stamps, the Minnesota Family Investment Program, housing resources through our Coordinated Entry System and Medicaid.
- Operates the Shelter Entry & Diversion team to provide a single point of contact and navigation to the right resources for anyone experiencing homelessness in Ramsey County, provide diversion services to single adults to prevent unnecessary entries into homelessness, and provide shelter reservations to single adults who need them for the coming night.
- Manages a family shelter waitlist, makes referrals for families experiencing homelessness in Ramsey County into the Family Service Center and Project Home shelters, and provides navigational support to those families.
- Provides case management, navigation and support to youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability in partnership through Saint Paul Public Schools; and to unsheltered youth ages 18-24.
- Operates and manages Ramsey County’s seasonal Winter Warming Space program.
Planning team
- Lead Agency support to the Heading Home Ramsey Continuum of Care and planning support for key initiatives including the Shelter Entry & Diversion team and Familiar Faces.
- Grant and contract administration for federal, state, and county programs, including technical assistance to providers on data analysis, and performance monitoring.
- Programmatic coordination for our Coordinated Entry System, Housing Support, and the Family Unification Program.
- Programmatic coordination and contract administration for eviction prevention resources including the Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program and other rental assistance funding sources.
Data and information about homelessness and housing stability efforts
Contact Us
Housing Stability
651-266-1040 (Department staff)
651-266-1050 (Shelter Entry & Diversion staff)
Department information
Contact form