ListenGroup homes licensed by the Health Department drive growth — and problems — in Brooklyn Park
The explosive growth of the group home industry in the northwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities is being driven largely by a relatively new licensing system overseen by the Minnesota Department of Health. And in Brooklyn Park, which has more group homes than any other city in Minnesota, those Health Department-licensed facilities appear to be responsible for an outsize number of the police calls that the city says are overwhelming its first responders.
Historically in Minnesota, group homes have been overseen by the Department of Human Services. But since 2009, there’s been a moratorium in place prohibiting the department from licensing any new group homes…