Advocates Call Duluth’s Homeless Crisis An ‘Emergency,’ Ask For Public’s Help

DULUTH, Minn. – Duluth’s homeless advocates and the non-profits they work for say chronic homelessness has hit crisis proportions, and they need help to turn the problem around.

“Shelters are overrun and as a consequence people have to be outside,” said John Cole, executive director of CHUM.

Cole said there’s not enough affordable housing in Duluth to meet the demand of roughly 1,300 people on a waiting list. And he said CHUM, the Domiano Center, AICHO and other non-profits can’t fix the homeless problem on their own anymore.

“There is a need to talk to your employers, to talk to your civic leaders, your representative to say that we need the type of response that’s proportionate to the type of crisis we are experiencing. That it is not enough to do what we’ve been doing for the last 10 years,” Cole said.

Meanwhile, Seth Currier, the director of the Domiano Center in Duluth said the homeless are not just statistics, they are people who deserve dignity and compassion — people who you may never think would become homeless.

“Countless people who used to own their own business, used to be professors, veterans, used to be teachers … through just a couple different things, and finances tanked and ended up on the streets. It could be any of us,” Currier said.

The call for “all-in” help comes on World Homelessness Day.  According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, it is believed around 150 million people around the world are without a place to call home.

Meanwhile, Stepping On Up Duluth is a joint initiative with multiple agencies in St. Louis County that’s got a five-year plan to find innovative solutions to get people off the streets.