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Our Purpose

The West Central Minnesota Homeless To Housed Task Force is a collaboration of regional partners working together to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. Our task force is made up of diverse individuals and organizations who are committed to making a difference in the lives of those affected by homelessness. We believe that everyone deserves a safe and stable place to call home, and we strive to make that a reality.

The CoC Region

The West Central CoC services the following geography: Becker County, Clay County, Douglas County, Grant County, Pope County, Otter Tail County, Stevens County, Traverse County, Wadena County, Wilkin County, and a portion of the White Earth Reservation (within Becker Co).

Map of 10 county West Central region.

What is a CoC?

A Continuum of Care (CoC) is a planning body tasked with:

  • Operating a coordinated homeless response system (CARES)

  • ​Planning to prevent & end homelessness

  • Measuring project and system performance (SPMs)

  • Reporting data on homelessness

  • Assuring compliance with CoC, state, and federal regulations

  • Gathering & analyzing data

  • Prioritizing limited resources 

  • Supporting project improvements & compliance

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The CoC uses data, known best practices, and expertise (provider and persons with lived experience of homelessness) to identify the extent of homelessness, create solutions to help make homelessness brief and rare, and to evaluate the effectiveness of our system.

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CoC Goals

  1. Enhance system access to better triage and connect people to appropriate interventions that will resolve their homeless crisis.

  2. Improve quality and consistency of practice for all homeless programs to support improved system equity and outcomes.

  3. Expand formalized service coordination to help form rapid and successful connections with mainstream and community services.

  4. Increase formalized engagement of persons with lived experience to improve system planning, system evaluation, system equity, and system supports.

  5. Improve use of data to inform system planning

  6. Expand support and education focused on increasing participant income

  7. Expand new housing opportunities to assure people have access to low-barrier housing.

  8. Increase access to local, low-barrier emergency shelter.

  9. Enhance system outreach to more rapidly identify those who are unsheltered and support them in accessing mainstream and homeless services.

CARES

The Coordinated Access, Referral, Entry & Stabilization (CARES) System is the homeless response system for the North Dakota and West Central Minnesota Continuum of Care regions.

 

CARES is designed to be a coordinated, accessible, and transparent link to housing assistance, shelter, mainstream services, and other resources for those experiencing homelessness or in a housing crisis. 

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Visit the CARES pages to find out more! 

System Performance

We are proud of the work we do and continually strive to improve our system.  

Join Us

If you share our passion for ending homelessness, we invite you to join us in our mission to end homelessness. Visit our membership page to find out more.  

 

If you are in a housing crisis visit https://mn.hb101.org/ and click on the interactive map to find the Access point for your county. Clay County residents contact 211. 

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If you want information on becoming a member agency or CARES partner, please contact Carla at h2hcoordinator@gmail.com. 

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The West Central Minnesota Continuum of Care (CoC) is dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in the 10 contiguous counties of Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse, Wilken and Wadena, including the White Earth Tribal land.

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