Focus on Family - Adrienne's Story
“For me and my kids, I had to do it myself,” said Adrienne about her decision to leave her home with her two children, Alexander (13) and Asonus (3). She shared, “I didn’t want help from friends and family; I wanted to stand on my own two feet.” 

At first, she felt ashamed and upset about having to seek emergency shelter at Haven Housing @ St. Anne’s Place. But, then, she recalls feeling immediate relief when she saw all the opportunities for growth Haven Housing offered. Learn more about Adrienne’s commitment to her family and how Haven Housing supported her →
Use Your Voice
Soon, the Legislature’s Conference Committee will meet to negotiate a final budget that both the House & Senate can agree on, hopefully including funding for emergency shelters. Your voice can help make this happen! 

The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless’ Action Alert platform will let you quickly email your Representative and Senator. Seriously, it takes less than 1 minute! You are able and encouraged to customize the email with why it is important to include in the budget:
  • $150 million in one-time funding for shelter capital to create new shelter spaces and enhance existing ones.  
  • $40 million in 2024/25 and $70 million in 2026/27 in ongoing Emergency Services Program (ESP) funding. This is needed to ensure a person's experience of homelessness is safe, rare, brief, and nonrecurring. 

Please complete the action alert ASAP, as things can change VERY quickly at the Capitol. Thank you for advocating with us!
Thank you, Volunteers!
It’s Volunteer Appreciation Week! We couldn’t provide a safe haven, prevent future episodes of homelessness, or change the systems that cause housing instability without you!
Meet volunteer Michelle Filkins!  Michelle is Haven Housing @ Ascension Place’s volunteer book club leader.

Renée, an Advocate Specialist at Haven Housing, met Michelle at Metro State University, where Michelle is a professor and librarian. Through Renée’s initiative and her collaboration with Michelle, and thanks to a Metro State Community Engagement Grant, they launched the book club in the summer of 2022.

As an academic librarian, Michelle has always strongly advocated for literature and lifelong learning. Her experience leading a Dayton's Bluff community book club gave her the perfect skills to create the book club with Renée at Haven Housing.

Michelle has enjoyed getting to know the Haven Housing @ Ascension Place community and appreciates how supportive the residents are of each other. 

What has surprised Michelle the most? Instead of meeting monthly or every other month, the book club participants wanted to meet more frequently. Meeting bi-weekly has helped take the pressure off having to complete an entire book for each meeting, and Michelle has witnessed its benefits.

Michelle hopes to expand the club and bring in local authors in the future. We are grateful for her dedication to the women and non-binary people at Haven Housing @ Ascension Place in creating this special programming.
Join our team! Haven Housing is hiring for on-call advocates, a part-time Activities Coordinator, Case Manager, Children’s Advocate Specialist, a part-time Cook, and Maintenance Technician.