Freedom From the Streets Finds a Way to Continue

With community sites closing, like libraries, parks, restaurants, public bathrooms, it has been increasingly difficult to find places for people experiencing homelessness to be when they leave an overnight shelter; where to get food, take care of their personal needs, and just sit down and rest.

Freedom from the Streets continues to meet at House of Charity Food Distribution Center from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM on Mondays, and at First Lutheran Church in St. Paul on Fridays 11:30AM - 1 PM. While maintaining 6 ft of distance from each other, we provide support to each other and provide input into decisions about their lives as we have conference calls with Ramsey County, Hennepin County and the State of Minnesota.

Through a facilitated discussion by Freedom from the Streets Leaders Junail Freeman Anderson, Rome Darring ( MICAH Board Members) and John Bradley, along with Sue Watlov Phillips, Executive Director of MICAH, we listen to the impacts of COVID-19 on their lives and issues they are facing as people in the community are told to stay home. Many of Freedom from the Streets members do not have a home.

We greatly appreciate the resources Hennepin and Ramsey counties, as well as other metro counties, have provided in opening 24-hour sites in motels and other settings for people experiencing homelessness over the age 60 and/or with pre-existing health issues at higher risk of COVID-19, and those who need to be quarantined or isolated.

We especially thank Ramsey County Commissioner Trista MatasCastillo, Director David Hewitt of Plan to End Homelessness in Hennepin County, and Margaret King from the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness, joining us weekly via conference calls as Freedom from the Streets members express their concerns and solutions for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic and as communities implement the CDC guidelines.