“That was an immediate outbreak, so swift decisions needed to be made and we decided to move all of our residents to the hotel because we could not contain COVID in the shelter because of lack of distancing,” said Stepping Stone Director Julie Jeppson. “Now with a second floor that is possible. Anything we can do to move residents back into the shelter will save taxpayer dollars because the expense to have all our residents at the hotel is about $100,000 a month.”
The shelter is still empty, but residents could be moving back and spread out a bit now that Anoka County, which owns the building, says they can expand to the second floor, adding about 6000 square feet of space. But there will be work to do. Jeppson says needed renovations add up to about $2.3 million.
“It’s quite dated. It was built in 1980. There’s a lot of renovations that need to happen.”
Former offices will be converted to bedrooms. The restrooms and existing bedrooms need an upgrade, and there’s ventilation work to be done. Jeppson hopes to cover the cost with a grant from the state which has set up a $17-million fund to mitigate infectious disease in homeless shelters.
“Pre COVID we had eight individuals per bedroom, four bunk beds, and so this added space will allow us to move the top bunks from all the bunk beds up here,” said Jeppson.
Jeppson hopes the state will fully fund their request. In case it’s less than the entire amount, they are already looking for other ways to raise the money through donations and other grants. If all goes well, the work could be finished by September.
