WHAT THE DATA SHOWS

Based on 2000 Census Data:

• 55% of the low income households in Saint Paul are paying more than 30% of their income for housing
• The number and percent of households that pay more than 30 percent and more than 50 percent of their monthly income for housing costs has remained fairly stable from 1990 to 2000

And the rate of homelessness in Ramsey County is increasing:

• 1997 - 6.81 per 1000
• 2000 - 6.27 per 1000
• 2003 - 8.19 per 1000

[Source: Wilder Research Center, November 2004]

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Summer 2008 - School Success in Motion: Protective Factors for Academic Achievement in Homeless and Highly Mobile Children in Minneapolis - Collaborative research project of Minneapolis Public Schools, University of Minnesota, People Serving People, and Mary’s Place, CURA Reporter.

May 2008 - 2008 County Housing Profiles - The unmet affordable housing need through the year 2010 in Minnesota is conservatively estimated at 333,000 low-income households. Meanwhile, the number of households in the state spending more than half of their income on housing increased from 1 in 15 in 2000 to 1 in 8 in 2006. Minnesota experienced the fastest increase of extremely cost burdened households of any state in the nation during this time period, Minnesota Housing Partnership (Ramsey County).

March 2007 - Overview of homelessness in Minnesota 2006 - Key facts from the statewide survey, Wilder Research.

September 2006 - Racial Segregation in Minnesota - Disparities in housing and education, Minneapolis Foundation.

April 2005 - Homeless in Minnesota: A closer look Youth and young adults on their own, Wilder Research Center.

Spring 2005 - Residential Development Impacts in Two Minnesota Regions, CURA Reporter, University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

Spring 2005 - Subprime Lending and Foreclosure in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties: An Empirical Analysis, CURA Reporter, University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

September 2004 - Homeless adults and children in Minnesota: Statewide survey of people without permanent shelter, Wilder Research Center.

June 2004 - Homeless in Minnesota: A closer look Families and children, Wilder Research Center.

March 2004 - Ending Long-Term Homelessness In Minnesota: Report and Business Plan of the Working Group on Long-Term Homelessness, Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Corrections, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

February 2004 - Moving On: Student Mobility and Affordable Housing, Metropolitan Housing Coalition.

June 2003 - Our Children: Our Future, Minnesota kids don’t live at home, Wilder Research Center

Fact Sheets on Affordable Housing - FAQs, primers, and other types of information about affordable housing in our community, MICAH.

Excerpts from the 2003 Family Housing Fund Annual Report:

• The number of homeless families more than quadrupled from 1991 to 2003. Growth was consistent throughout the decade before dropping slightly in 2003.  However, nearly 40 percent of the counted homeless population was dependent children or unaccompanied youth.

—Wilder Research Center, 2004

• In 2003, thirty percent of homeless adults were employed, with 13 percent working full time. This is down from 41 percent working (26 percent full time) in 2000, probably due to the slowing economy. Nearly 10 percent of homeless adults reported being laid off within the previous six months.

—Wilder Research Center, 2004

• Seventy-percent of white Minnesotans own their own homes, compared to just 53 percent for Asians, 50 percent for Native Americans, and 32 percent for African Americans. Furthermore, while Minnesota’s adult population is over 90 percent white, people of color make up almost 60 percent of homeless adults.

—U.S. Census Bureau, 2000, Wilder Research Center, 2004

• Jobs where the average salary is insufficient to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in the metro area include: school bus driver, teacher assistant, medical records technician, childcare worker, and retail salesperson.

–MN Department of Economic Security, 2003

• Over 60,000 new low-income households are expected to move to the metro area by 2010. Researchers are projecting an unmet need for 22,000 units of affordable housing by decade’s end, above and beyond the projected 38,000 units the private market and public and philanthropic sectors are expected to provide.

–BBC Research, 2003

• Compared to children with homes, homeless children have two times the rate of learning disabilities, three times the rate of emotional and behavioral problems, and four times the rate of developmental delays. Seventy-five percent of homeless children test below grade level in reading, and 54 percent test below grade level in math.

–Housing America and Doc4Kids Project, 1999, Better Homes Fund, 1999

April 2004 - Annual Report 2003, Family Housing Fund.