Kimball Court Update | August 2024
The Housing First model Beacon provides at Bimosedaa, American House and Kimball Court is a direct response to unsheltered homelessness in our community. It’s exactly the type of permanent supportive housing our community needs at the time we need it the most.
The planned renovation and expansion at Kimball Court will allow us to serve more residents, increase housing quality, and enhance our ability to deliver this Housing First model with the fidelity, excellence and care that residents deserve, and our community expects.
Background: Beacon’s response to homelessness through a Housing First model
In response to the closure of the Wall of Forgotten Natives in 2019, Beacon transitioned two of our properties (American House and Kimball Court) to a Housing First model and began dreaming about a new development (Bimosedaa) specifically built and designed for this purpose.
Housing First is an evidence-based response to homelessness that serves the needs of individuals with histories of chronic homelessness, complex barriers to housing, and behavioral health challenges.
We also began our learning journey to ensure that we adequately meet the needs of the residents of these homes with fidelity, excellence, and care. Planning began to significantly upgrade both the physical facilities as well as the level of care we could provide at American House and Kimball Court. Now, five years into this journey, we have opened and fully leased up Bimosedaa, a gold standard in Housing First in partnership with Red Lake Nation and Avivo (our service provider at all three sites). Additionally, we have significantly upgraded the facilities and staffing at American House, and we have moved forward with plans to do the same with Kimball Court. This is what current and future residents at Kimball Court deserve.
Meeting the moment: Unsheltered homelessness and the opioid epidemic
While serving residents and improving quality and safety, we’re also honest about reality.
Community need is high. The last point-in-time study showed that in the Twin Cities nearly a quarter of individuals experiencing homelessness are sleeping outside, in a vehicle or vacant building, or someplace not intended for housing 15 or more nights per month (Wilder Homeless Study 2023). More investment is needed to provide a comprehensive solution to stably housing individuals experiencing homelessness and offering supportive services that are the best-known intervention for interrupting homelessness.
Kimball Court holds this mission critical work at a regional epicenter of the opioid epidemic. Hundreds more apartment units are needed across the metro to adequately provide this type of permanent supportive housing for all who could benefit from it. Beacon has chosen to deliver on this model and commit to these improvements despite gaps in public operations, security, and services funding. More investment is needed to provide a comprehensive solution to this community challenge.
Beacon is more capable than ever of delivering higher quality supportive housing at Kimball Court. We have invested in a reorganization of our leadership and staff teams to better support service partners, ensure strong asset management, and ensure quality operations. We have hired a responsive and effective property manager since the most acute challenges were felt at Kimball Court in 2022. There is a strong and seasoned leadership team in our partners at Avivo, and we have invested in talented, trauma-informed security service staff from Relative Intel.
More about the renovation and expansion
The Kimball Court renovation and expansion project will further strengthen what we and our partners can provide residents at Kimball Court.
This renovation and expansion will significantly enhance housing quality, resident experience and safety, and allow us to better deliver the Housing First model. The renovated program and community space, coupled with enhanced entry security, will address concerns expressed by residents and neighbors alike, with the primary goal of providing a quality, positive experience for residents.
The renovation of the building will create adjacent services and property management offices to better support coordination between these partners and thus their support of residents. There will be a more controlled and visible entry, more high-quality secure meeting spaces, and additional amenity and practical spaces such as a library, an internal courtyard, and an exercise room, amongst others. New micro-efficiency apartments will be added to expand the number of homes from 76 to 98, supported by St. Paul PHA Section 8. Additionally, we have secured sustainable operations-based funding (together with expansion capital dollars) to fund security.
The Kimball Court expansion and renovation project has also attracted well over $200K in recurring services support from Ramsey County’s HUD Continuum of Care which will help Beacon and our partners continue our focus on high quality service delivery.
Responding to neighborhood concerns
Responding to public concerns can be challenging when some of those concerns conflate Kimball Court residents with the variety of individuals in the Hamline Midway area who are challenged by substance use disorder and/or unsheltered homelessness.
Beacon representatives will join the next Hamline Midway Area Coalition meeting later this month to support updates to the neighborhood on today’s Kimball Court, describe the renovation and expansion plans, learn more about neighborhood concerns, continue our efforts to engage the neighborhood, and to describe the broader systems change work that we’re engaging to strengthen resources available for supportive housing locally and statewide.
Beacon’s continued commitment is to be a good steward of all the buildings we own and operate and to provide safe, stable, quality homes for the residents who live there. We are grateful for the advocacy, partnership and generosity of community members who share this commitment and help us live more fully into our mission.
