man walking near Mayo Civic Center on Thanksgiving Day in Rochester - Kim David, Townsquare Media
man walking near Mayo Civic Center on Thanksgiving Day in Rochester - Kim David, Townsquare Media
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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless opens its annual conference at Rochester’s Mayo Civic Center Tuesday.

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton will kick the meeting off with a short welcome and provide commentary about the city’s efforts to address homelessness.

Also, the President and CEO of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Rochester government and community leaders to discuss the city’s homelessness issues. Tim Marx leads one of the largest homeless shelters in Minnesota.

The city recently partnered with Olmsted County to establish a designated community warming center near the Government Center. Also involved in the project are local non-profits, Mayo Clinic and others from the private sector. The newest member of the local partnership is The Corporation for Supportive Housing. CSH is a national non-profit with staff based in Minnesota that works to improve the lives of vulnerable people, maximize public resources, and build strong and healthy communities.

For close to 30 years, CSH has led the movement to create supportive housing in more than 300 cities and 48 states across the country. Now, CSH is also leveraging supportive housing to improve the ways communities respond to a range of vulnerable people – including those experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

“We will collaborate with the County, City, Mayo Clinic, and other key civic leaders on an action plan that will set in motion a series of short-term and longer-term interventions with the goals of preventing and ending unsheltered homelessness in Olmsted County,” said Amy Stetzel, Upper Midwest Director for CSH. “Everyone has a role, and we must work together to ensure all community members have a safe and stable place to call home.”

“CSH is a national leader in developing community responses to address unsheltered homelessness,” stated Dave Dunn, Director, Olmsted County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. “We are pleased to be partnering with them to develop an action plan for Olmsted County; a plan we expect to have completed by the end of 2019.”

That was the consensus of the Rochester City Council Monday as it discussed the results of a survey dealing with waste haulers.

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