Partnerships That Push Us Forward: Simpson Housing Services
Beacon’s Partnership With Simpson Housing Services. Written By Dylan Novacek, Content Specialist
“At Simpson, we’re nothing more than an expression of our community’s will to do something about the ongoing crisis of homelessness,” expressed Steve Horsfield, Executive Director of Simpson Housing Services. “We support and advocate for people experiencing homelessness.”
Utterly committed to home, Simpson embraces the uniqueness and dignity of every person they serve. From offering emergency overnight shelter for adults, providing stable and supportive housing, to creating specialized programs that help break the cycle of generational homelessness, Simpson knows what it takes to see that all people have a home.
As the service provider at several Beacon homes, including 66 West and Cedar View Apartments, Beacon and Simpson collaborate and push each other forward in order to achieve our shared mission and vision.
“We believe everyone has the right to safe and affordable housing,” Steve continued. “Our driving principles come from our genesis of working out of church basements. We’re person centered and values based. With our history of working with faith-based organizations, partnering with Beacon has been a great fit!”
Prior to the beginning of our partnership at Cedar View Apartments (pictured left), Simpson had a well-established reputation for developing and tailoring high quality services for their program participants. Of those, Steve spoke highly of their Young Parent Program, which serves parenting youth ages 18-24 who have experienced homelessness. With their background and expertise, they were able to bring such services on site to Beacon homes.
“This is where we began to really roll up our sleeves and work alongside each other,” Steve exclaimed. “Working with Beacon has been a great values fit. I don’t know if we would’ve been able to do this with a partner other than Beacon. Collaboration is so embedded into both our organizations’ DNA.”
As Beacon took bold steps to create 66 West (pictured left), youth supportive housing in Edina, asking Simpson to join as the service provider just made sense. At what sometimes felt like an uphill battle, having the expertise of Simpson by our side made the journey to new homes in Edina that much easier.
“Stepping into this space was key for us in this work. We became even more committed to 66 West knowing we partnered with Beacon on designing these services that are of high quality and value to the community so we can expand this work to more affluent, first-tier suburbs,” Steve said.
“It’s refreshing to step into this space working with young families and young people. It’s truly transitional work. This partnership enhances our ability to serve. Working with Beacon allows us to make sure we’re responding to the needs of the communities.”
Reflecting on his years of experience, Steve smiled as he looked back on the first residents who moved into 66 West. More specifically, he fondly remembered the smell of fresh baked cookies.
“Our case managers would bake cookies with the new residents as their first introduction to their new home,” he smiled. “Each time I would walk into the building, I would smell this beautiful aroma of freshly baked cookies. There were always new residents settling in to their new, stable homes.”
Steve and the entire staff at Simpson care deeply for the individuals they serve. He has seen how these services have positively changed lives.
“We have a recording studio at 66 West. Seeing our young residents feel comfortable enough to produce music and perform in their home is so special,” he beamed. “It reminds me of the beautiful, untapped resource that is our youth…”
“All the capacity for community engagement within people who are stifled because they don’t have a home. Instead of creating and engaging with their community, too many people are spending time worrying where their next meal will come from. To see the flip side of that is amazing.”
Steve took a considered pause. “The answer to homelessness is simple: It’s housing and it’s the right types of services for the right amount of time.”
It takes strong partnerships to blend quality homes with onsite support services. It will also take strong partnerships to ensure that all Minnesotans are able to afford their home. This is why Steve and Simpson strongly support Bring It Home, MN.
“Homelessness exists in our communities because of the decisions we make in our government and our markets,” Steve asserted. “There have been choices made that have resulted in policies that led us where we are today. That lead to people being unstable in their housing and being homeless.”
Advocating against these injustices, which are rooted in systemic racism, is key in moving our shared vision forward. For Steve and his team at Simpson, they are proud to partner with an organization that is able to influence change on the state level.
“Beacon and Bring It Home, MN has pushed us into greater advocacy. In my 20 years of doing this work, Bring It Home has been the first thing I’ve gotten access to that I feel has the scope and potential impact to make a difference for what housing instability looks like for our state.”
“Together, we do a lot of great work that nets a result of thousands of households each year getting taken off the street and out of shelters,” Steve continued. “The problem is that every year we see just as many people losing their housing. We’re managing a churn of people. Bring It Home, MN has the potential to stop that revolving door of housing stability.”
Simpson Housing Services is an organization that believes in home. From their commitment to their program participants and Beacon residents, to their support in our policy efforts, we push each other forward in this work.
“Supportive housing is the most fundamental investment of your time, energy, and resources,” Steve claimed with passion. “There is nothing that has more downstream impact than housing has. Better housing means better healthcare, education, employment, and safety outcomes. Everything builds upon the notion of having a stable foundation for home.”
There is tremendous strength within our community, and we can leverage that through stable homes. Learn more about the great work Simpson does on their website. Read more about 66 West in this resident spotlight.
