It may seem like homelessness has always been a problem--but it didn't come out of nowhere. When the U.S. economy took a downturn in the 1980s, and federal policy towards social services went down with it, America's poor, addicted, and mentally ill citizens were often left in the lurch. That's when these underprivileged and underrepresented peoples began to form a new class of people: the homeless.
In 1984, in the midst of it all, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) held a “Conference on the Homeless� in St. Paul. The product of this conference germinated in 1987 as an intense design charrette called “Search for Shelter." Held simultaneously in 25 cities across the country, the first Search for Shelter was a great success. But its effects weren’t lasting: By the mid 90’s it was clear that Minnesota was the only state that still had an active Search for Shelter committee. To highlight this fact and show other architects that homelessness was still a problem, members of Search for Shelter staged a sleep-out during the 1997 National AIA Convention in Minneapolis.
This year marks the Minnesota Search for Shelter’s 20th anniversary (pdf). While it's certainly a proud occasion, the fact that there are close to 9,000 homeless people in Minnesota on any given night is nothing to celebrate. According to research done by the Wilder Foundation in 2003, 41 percent of our so-called "invisible neighbors"are working, 26 percent of them full time (a number that has tripled since 1990). One in five homeless adults have been diagnosed with an alcohol abuse disorder and one in eight with a drug abuse disorder. 38 percent of these homeless adults suffer from mental illness. The statistics are sobering--homelessness is a problem that cuts deep into our social and cultural fabric. That's why events like Search for Shelter can be so powerful.
At the beginning of this year's event, to be held February 9-11, participants (including professional architects and students from the University of Minnesota) will be broken up into teams and paired with local non-profit housing organizations. Each organization brings a different project to the table, and each team will work through the weekend, often late into the night, preparing to present their ideas at the end of the event. The resulting design boards become a visual tool for the housing organization to acquire funding, educate about their cause, or serve as preliminary building plans. These are real world projects, many of which get kick-started at Search for Shelter and eventually see completion in some form.
If you’re interested in learning more about homelessness in the Twin Cities and new steps being taken to end it, come see guest speaker Cathy ten Broeke talk on Friday night. Cathy heads up the Minneapolis/Hennepin County Commission to End Homelessness; she recently coordinated Heading Home Hennepin, the county’s 10 year plan to end homelessness by 2016. For more information about the event, click here.
