Homelessness in the Duluth, MN

Homelessness is a problem that is growing at an alarming rate throughout the country. This fact holds true in Duluth, a shipping port town located in Douglas country, Minnesota. In Douglas County, there are approximately 600 people that are homeless. As for Duluth, based on statistics from the City of Duluth Housing Indicator Report, there are approximately 500 homeless people. It is difficult to ascertain an exact number due to the fact that most homeless persons live outside of the scope of the census bureau and other bureaucratic agencies. There are many shelters and services that are established to help them but every night people are turned away because overall the shelters in Duluth combined can only provide shelter for about three hundred people. This means that even if all of the people who were homeless tried to find a warm place to sleep, about two fifths of them would be turned away due to lack of space..

This may seem like a problem that is unavoidable. If there are already programs attempting to help and there is still not enough to go around, what can be else can be done? Bob Kosuth, a former professor at the University of Wisconsin Superior and wrote a report for the Northland on the problems of homelessness in this region. “When we pay taxes, the money paid is divided into different sections to pay for different things, one of these being military spending… If just 29% of the tax dollars paid by citizens of Duluth towards military spending was instead reinvested into the community, in programs such as housing assistance or job training, there would be almost no one living under the poverty line,” says Kosuth. “That doesn't mean 29% of all the money Duluth paid in taxes, but just 29% of the money from our taxes that went directly towards funding the war.” This point is especially poignant when one considers the fact that, according to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers, 23% of the homeless population in America are veterans.

To understand how the problem of homelessness effects our population one must understand the demographics of the homeless population. The first way that the homeless population can be categorized is by age. In the Duluth area 9.5% of homeless people are 19 years old or younger, 26.4% are 20 to 29, 24.6% are 30 to 39, 28.4% are 40 to 49, 9.3% are 50 to 59, and 1.8% are 60 or older. The second way that the homeless population can be categorized is by race. In order to fully understand the gross inequality of minorities living in the homeless population, it is important to compare the percent of the racial population who are homeless to the percent the race has in the city overall. In Duluth, 92.65% of the population can be categorized as Caucasian but the percent of the homeless population that are Caucasian is only 53.5%. The percent of African Americans in the city is 1.63; the percent of the homeless population that is African American is 15. Native Americans make up 2.44% of the population of Duluth; the percentage of the homeless population that is native is 23.9. Those who define themselves as multiracial make up 3.28% of Duluth population but they make up 7.6% of the homeless population. From these statistics it is very clear that racial minorities are at a greater risk of becoming homeless than Caucasian individuals in the same area.

There are a significant number of families who are homeless. On a national level, 72% of homeless women and 30% of homeless men have at least one child living with them who is under the age of 17. In Minnesota, 82% of homeless youth are 12 or younger. Living in those conditions has a profound effect on a child. Besides the lack of their basic needs being met such as food, shelter, and adequate clothing, they also have to deal with the extremely negative impact this situation has on their educational and social development. Youth that are unaccompanied by an adult face even graver dangers. In Minnesota, there are 500 to 600 homeless youth on any given night. These children are forced to “couch hop” which is a term that means moving from one friend’s house to another. If this isn’t an option, the youth will be forced to sleep on the streets or resort to prostitution to find a place to stay.

Because of the disproportionate amount of children and women who makeup the homeless population, there are certain shelters in the Twin Ports area that cater only to this population. Harbor House, a crisis shelter located in Superior, a city directly across the Wisconsin/Minnesota border from Duluth, is one such establishment. Harbor House is open to single women, women with children, or fathers with children. They offer such services as shelter, food, counseling services, and job help. According to Executive Director, Reverend Barb Certa-Werner, they offer one service that is more important than all of these. “The most important service we offer is a listening adult,” said Certa-Werner, “Most of the women and men here are young and have spent their whole life without much guidance. While they are here, we can tell them ways they can improve their situations.”

There is no clear-cut reason for the problem of homelessness and there is no clear-cut solution. One thing that could help however is more funding for services that offer shelter or rehabilitation programs for homeless individuals. Dawn Shykes, the director of Lutheran Social Services Bethany Shelter for Children, stated, “We are able to offer many of our programs because of government grants and assistance but, if we want to help the shelter perform the way we wish, there really is a need more funding.”