Join us for a workshop bringing together local officials, community leaders, experienced and emerging developers, funders, lenders, housing industry professionals, and other stakeholders to address the challenges and opportunities the Northeast region of Minnesota faces
Gain insights from presentations and guest speakers on innovative solutions and successful housing projects
Network with housing professionals and organizations in the field
Access valuable information on housing funding opportunities, resources, and tools
Learn about emerging trends and policies shaping the future of housing and community development
Collaborate and build partnerships to advance community development efforts
This event will also serve as the capstone to MHP’s 2024 Emerging Developer Initiative (EDI). The EDI cohort has received training, networking, and peer to peer learning over the summer on such topics as project feasibility and design, site assembly and acquisition, development management, and funding. This is an opportunity to meet the current and next generation of community development leaders, learn about their project ideas, and explore potential collaboration opportunities!
For more information contact Donald Googleye, Community Development Manager donald.goggleye[at]mhponline.org.
MHP is excited to host the regional workshop: Advancing Housing and Community Development in the Northwest Region of Minnesota on June 8, 2023. It will bring together leaders focused on housing solutions for the region and emphasize specific development opportunities in the region.
Part I centered on MHP’s technical assistance work with North Olympic Regional Veterans Housing Network (NORVHN), which involved instilling sound practices, procedures, and policies for the fast-growing organization. MHP facilitated strategic planning and worked to build a solid foundation for the organization. Critically, MHP helped NORVHN restructure its board of directors to a highly functioning body with the capacity to make important connections in the community. Cheri Tinker, Executive Director, shared how this has impacted the veterans that they serve, highlighting the story of veteran David Williams.
Photo: NORVHN client David Williams
Viola, one of the new board members from this process, works in direct service – and because of her relationship with NORVHN, referred David to them. Without that connection, without Viola knowing NORVHN’s unique set of services, David wouldn’t have ever come to them, as on the surface his medical issues made him seem beyond their care.
David, whom Cheri calls, “A quiet, delightful man,” was homeless and had a mountain of health issues. Although he had been clean and sober for 8 years when he came to Sarge’s Place (one of NORVHN’s shelters), he was previously a chronic drug user, which wreaked havoc on his memory and body. He had severe diabetes, which he did not monitor. He was accepted into the shelter and the staff stabilized his medical condition. There he lived for 8 months – concurrent to NORVHN receiving MHP technical assistance with Deputy Director of Community Development Barbara Dolan.
NORVHN built Hobucket House, a permanent, 7-bedroom group home, David was able to move right in. One night he passed away peacefully. When the Chief of Police arrived, himself a combat vet, he noted that although David had only lived at Hobucket House for 3 weeks, he died with “family.”
David had no connection to family or friends – the staff and residents of the organization were it. They serve as the familial unit for many of the residents. NORVHN is often listed as next of kin for these previously homeless vets. In fact, several urns of ashes sit with Cheri at her desk, who honors their memory as part of their program.
Cheri says about David, “It was a beautiful thing that we could support him at the end of his life. He had a comfortable place, he was eating and drinking, he was warm, and he was dry. A man who had lived on the streets for years died with dignity in a comfortable environment with a sense of family. We were able to give someone the compassion of being present with them at the end of their life.”
“Without that connectivity – from the board being expanded and more vibrant, maybe David might not have been in our care.” That’s due to MHP’s technical assistance, which helped “bring truth out from our essence.” “MHP and Barbara helped us to create the foundation. I had the scaffolding, they helped to create the foundation.”
It all began with a Google search. In 2020, with the global pandemic raging, Cheri Tinker felt overwhelmed in her position as Executive Director of the North Olympic Regional Veterans Housing Network (NORVHN), an organization she founded. While NORVHN was experiencing growth, it was all set up on one person’s shoulders. Like many nonprofits, NORVHN evolved from the passion of one individual – in this case, Cheri’s passion was helping homeless vets in her community. But never having run a organization like this before, she built it the only way she knew how. NORVHN’s foundation wasn’t solid, making their important work unsustainable. Cheri turned to an internet search, and stumbled upon MHP. That, she says, was “transformative.”
Once houseless veterans served by Sarge’s Place.
NORVHN works with homeless Veterans of Clallam and Jefferson Counties on the Olympic Penninsula of Washington State, providing emergency shelter and permanent housing for Veterans in Washington State. This includes a 7-unit permanent supportive project built using modular housing, the first of its kind in the State of Washington. They also have a 2-story apartment building in Forks (Sarge’s Place), a second-hand store, a farm, a 4-plex in Port Angeles, and more. At the time Cheri contacted MHP, they had the projects and momentum, what they needed was the structure and support to make it sustainable.
When COVID struck, and NORVHN’s access to grants dried up, they applied for technical assistance with MHP with the goal of making them “whole.” MHP’s work came via the uber capable hands of Deputy Community Development Director Barbara Dolan. Barbara helped Cheri on all of the aspects of an organization that are hidden from the public–the unsexy yet critical work like sound practices, procedures, policies, manuals. She helped streamline their bookkeeping processes, transforming their audits and how grantors viewed their finances. They worked on restructuring the board of directors from elderly Vietnam Vets who didn’t have the capacity to support Cheri’s work, to a highly functioning board who could make important connections in the community. They did strategic planning, succession planning, and built an incredible structure for the organization. As Cheri gushes, “MHP saved our agency—you made it vibrant and healthy again!”
For the past three years, MHP’s Community Development team has been working with the Taos Pueblo Housing Authority to provide technical assistance on multiple fronts, including supporting their mission and helping to create a guide for staff in maintaining compliance. Another collaborative project is the funding and design of a 50+ unit new single-family housing development! Along with Heroda Bikax^e Consulting LLC, MHP brought in Ferguson Pyatt Architects to complete revisions to a site plan for the Spider Rock development needed to accommodate recently discovered cultural artifacts. We’ve provided guidance on potential funding resources, layering and leveraging resources for infrastructure and vertical construction, and assisted in submitting multiple state and federal grants. These units will be the first houses built by the Taos Pueblo Housing Authority in over 30 years. Infrastructure groundbreaking took place on October 28th, with the first units slated to be built in the summer of 2023.
3 Former Taos Pueblo Governors listen to a prayer by a Tribal elder during groundbreaking ceremonies: Gilbert Suazo Sr, Richard Aspenwind, Nelson Cordova. Rick Romancito for the Taos News
Over the upcoming months, MHP will continue to work with the Spider Rock development team to submit more funding requests, assist the TPHA Executive Director in creating a strategy for selecting new homeowners to serve the needs and priorities of the Pueblo while maintaining financial stability, participate in a design charrette and community education event, and set the stage for the next phase of the development of 26 units non-NAHASDA homes (The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996). More on the long history of this project was featured in the Taos News.
Barbara Dolan, Deputy Director of Community Development says, “It’s been a privilege to be working with the many devoted staff and leaders from Taos! A lot of hard work, time, and money from a truly committed team is making this project a reality!” It’s one more example of how MHP is working nationwide to live into its mission.
The Central Minnesota Housing Summit was developed in partnership with the Initiative Foundation and Sourcewell. MHP convened regional nonprofits, developers, and housing stakeholders for a peer-to-peer, in-person workshop on regional affordable housing needs and local solutions.
118 people registered from 65 different organizations representing 15 counties and 2 Native Nations!
Tuesday, December 6: Summit Opening Afternoon
Doors open at 3:30, Program at 4 pm. Includes dinner and:
Opening Remarks: Melanie Benjamin, Chief Executive at Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Minnesota’s Affordable Housing Needs: An Environmental Scan with Rose Surma, Executive Director, Oasis Central Minnesota; Anne Mavity, Executive Director, MHP
Keynote Address: Heather Worthington, Director of Inclusive Growth, the Center for Economic Inclusion
Optional: Stay over at Mille Lacs Grand Casino Hotel (limited free rooms)
Wednesday, December 7: Summit Programming
Includes breakfast, lunch and:
Opening Remarks by former Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Commissioners Mary Tingerthal, Tingerthal Group, and Tim Marx, Winthrop & Weinstein
Local Housing Solutions: Eric Charpentier, Executive Director of the Brainerd HRA; Dustin Goslin of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures; Sara Bunn, Workforce Housing & Multifamily Engagement Manager, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency; Barbara Dolan, Deputy Director of Community Development, MHP
2023 Legislative Session Preview and Advocacy: Elizabeth Glidden, MHP, Deputy Director
Housing Development 101: with Deanna Hemmesch, Central Minnesota Housing Partnership and Melissa Wyman, City of Staples
Creating Impactful Partnerships in Affordable Housing Delivery: with John Rocker, Director of Lending, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund; Vicky Kinney, Executive Director, My Neighbor to Love Coalition; Gary Dietrich, GreenStep Coordinator, City of Hackensack, Bill Gray, Stakeholder Relations Director, Minnesota Homeownership Center,
Action! Next Steps for Affordable Housing
MHP provides a high quality and safe experience at all of its events. Our team is taking the necessary precautions as recommended by the CDC. Complimentary masks will be available.
MHP is committed to social, racial, gender, and economic justice and strongly encourages women, veterans, persons with disabilities, and individuals who identify as BIPOC or LGBTQ to participate.
Contact us with event inquiries and continue to check back on this event page as resources will be added as they become available.
MHP’s Emerging Developers Initiative (EDI) held a housing and economic development workshop for NW Minnesota and Tribal Nations in Crookston, MN this week: Where Are All Those Workers Driving in From and Why Can’t They Live Here? For more information on the EDI which supports the emergence and professional development of new housing developers from rural communities and Tribal Nations, contact Donald Googleye, Community Development Manager at [email protected].
Panelists at the EDI Workshop in Crookston, MN
Mark Borseth, Community Development Consultant, City of Thief River Falls;
Karie Kirschbaum, Economic Development Director, City of Crookston;
Anna Sheppard, President, White Earth Tribal and Community College (WETCC);
Mitch Berg, Associate Director of UMC’s Veden Center for Rural Development;
On Thursday, September 22, MHP is hosting a day of housing policy practicum for northwest Minnesota and tribal nations in Bemidji, MN. The day long event hosted at Bemidji”s Carnegie Library + Watermark Arts Center, will provide the opportunity for networking and provide training and tools to support local housing development.
Sessions and Workshops Featuring:
Morning Policy Plenary at Bemidji Carnegie Library
Welcome and opening remarks by Jorge Prince, Mayor of Bemidji.
Welcome and opening remarks by Jorge Prince, Mayor of Bemidji. GIS Presentation: Participate in an interactive overview of housing development, followed by a multi-sector panel discussion exploring regional perspectives and approaches to housing. Lunch and Networking at Watermark Arts Center
This Housing Opportunity Workshop (HOW) is first in a series to promote networking and provide training and tools to support local housing development.
Thanks to our technical assistance partners: Greater Minnesota Housing Fund • Minnesota Housing • Northwest Minnesota Foundation • Northwest Small Business Development Center • Architect Jacob Mans.
For more information and to register contact Donald Googleye, Community Development Manager donald.goggleye[at]mhponline.org.
In December, MHP staff traveled to two rural communities along the Rio Grande River in Texas. Together with staff members from come dream. come build, MHP’s Community Development Team met with local stakeholders including the staff from the Starr County Self Help Center and Colonias Unidas in Los Lomas to learn about the needs in their communities.
Staff from Cdcb, Self Help Center, MHP, and Colonias Unidas gather in Los Lomas, TX
Of the more than 200 Colonias communities in Starr County, MHP worked to zero in on a few as a starting point, including Los Lomas and Rio Grande City. The team learned of 13 vacant lots that might be perfect for cdcb’s MiCasita homesand met with two of the owners.
While on site, the project team also checked out some multifamily rental properties that were on the market in Rio Grande City and Roma. It was a great start to this engagement, helping CDCB gain a footing in these two rural cities and adjacent colonias communities. MHP’s team is planning another trip there next spring.
