The Problem

The cost of homelessness is addressed in The New Yorker February 2006 article "Million Dollar Murray"  by Malcolm Gladwell.  

Housing is considered "affordable" if it consumes 30% or less of a household's gross income.

The 2008 "Fair Market" rent in Olmsted County is currently at $586/month for an efficiency apartment, $626 for a one-bedroom, and $822 for a two-bedroom.

In order to afford an efficiency apartment and meet your basic needs, a person would need to earn $11.27/hour, 30 hours a week.

We are a wealthy community and fortunate to have a myrid of resources; yet we are still challenged with the same barriers to ending homelessness as exist in other communities in Minnesota and across the Nation.

In Olmsted County the median income is $63,680 or $31/hour.

However, 35% of the popultion in Olmsted County earns less than $15/hour.