This summer, Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) opened a 24-unit Permanent Supportive Housing community on their property in the East Phillips and Ventura Village neighborhood of Minneapolis. Named Oshki-Gakeyaa, which means “New Way” in Ojibwe, its newly renovated apartments were instantly occupied by unhoused Native individuals or families.
Twenty of those units are for high-priority individuals as well as those experiencing long-term homelessness, while four units are reserved for people with disabilities. There is now a waitlist for the apartments, a sign of the deep and persistent demand for housing, especially as temperatures drop and tents reappear in the heart of Minneapolis’ Native community. Currently, a majority of these units are occupied by Native women.
This is the latest effort from the Native community to combat the disproportionate number of individuals and families from its community who are experiencing homelessness…