Lutheran Social Services Housing will advance Minot resilience under an agreement with the city to develop a family homeless shelter and affordable housing.

Promising about $5.8 million in National Disaster Resilience grant funds, the Minot City Council on Monday authorized the signing of agreements with Lutheran Social Services Housing to establish a six-unit family homeless shelter and 17-unit multi-family rental housing.

“I’ve heard some real great feedback from many people that have been involved with this,” council member Shannon Straight said of the homeless shelter. “There’s some real excitement about this project.”

However, Straight questioned the new apartments, given the concern in the community over existing apartment vacancy rates.

John Zakian, resilience program manager, said the use of existing buildings was considered but not found cost effective.

“There is a population group out there that clearly is at risk of homelessness,” he said. “It could be for a variety of reasons. They’re on the verge of being kicked out of their homes. There are many LMI residents that really don’t have the capacity to manage the finances. So this is aimed at capturing a particular, unique population of our residents that clearly qualify as LMI that really aren’t a target market for existing housing.”

Although a location hasn’t been finalized, the rental housing and homeless shelter will be located in the same footprint.

“That revenue above what is necessary to maintain the LMI housing units will be able to be used, pursuant to this agreement, to help fund the operations of the homeless shelter,” Zakian said.

A committee had been working for a number of months on the shelter project.

“It has been a very truly cooperative community effort among all the different vulnerable population groups. And I certainly want to express appreciation to Lutheran Social Services Housing for going through all those hoops and loops,” Zakian said.

“As an affordable housing provider, Lutheran Social Services often works with families who have been experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness,” said CEO Jessica Thomasson. “It’s been a great privilege to have a chance to work with the dedicated service providers in the Minot area to put this project together. There’s a lot of work yet to do, but we feel good that this is a solid plan for how we can work together to help families navigate crises and find stability.”

The contract calls for spending up to $2.74 million from the city’s $74.3 million Community Development Block Grant-National Disaster Resilience award on the homeless shelter. The second contract provides up to $3.06 million from the award for the LMI housing.

The city, through Souris Basin Planning Council, also is applying for $760,000 from the Governor’s Fund for Community Development. Grant funds would be used to cover acquisition costs to purchase property.

The homeless shelter project would include space for the Welcome Table Cafe and Lord’s Cupboard Food Pantry. It includes a service collaborative to support families living at the property, with the intention of bolstering self-sufficiency and family stability.

Groups involved with support services and referral would include North Central Human Service Center, Minot Homeless Coalition, YWCA, Men’s Winter Refuge, Independence Inc, Welcome Table/Lord’s Cupboard and Lutheran Social Services. Services would include case management, client referral, meals and food pantry, family coaching and job readiness.

Emergency shelter stays could last up to 60 days. Units would be two or three bedroom and will include a small refrigerator and microwave, although families will rely primarily on the on-site dining center for congregate meals. One of the six units will be fully handicapped accessible.

The project will rely largely on charitable donations and grants to support annual operating expenses estimated at $109,834 a year.

The 17 units of rental housing will include six studios, eight one-bedroom, two two-bedroom and one caretaker unit. Two units will be fully handicapped accessible. Rents will be based caps set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development based on family and apartment size.

The timeline for both projects calls for construction to being this fall, with completion in December 2020 and opening in January 2021.