PO Box 395, 3063 Hwy 281 UNIT 1 and 2, Dunseith, North Dakota 58329-0395, United States
Job Postings
Turtle Mountain Tero at the tribe are looking for flaggers. This is the website to get certified to become a flagger.
2022 Historic Blizzard
Bismark/Mandan I-94
1/3
Free Through Recovery
How to be referred:
- Community Supervision: Contact Parole or Probation officer.
Transitioning from prison:
- Contact your case manager in the facility you reside.
More Information - Email: freethroughrecovery@nd.gov.
- 701-328-8736 for general information about program.
- 701-328-6046 for information about referral process.
behavioralhealth.dhs.nd.gov/addiction/free-through-recovery
About:
This is a community based behavioral health program. It is designed to increase recovery support services for individuals involved with the criminal justice system with behavioral concerns.
Mission:
Improve healthcare outcomes and reduce recidivism by delivering high-quality community behavioral health services linked with community supervision.
Work with local providers to receive:
- care coordination
- recovery services
- peer support
Eligibility Requirements:
- 18 or older
- Involved in criminal system
- At risk for future criminal involvement
- Show signs of behavioral Condition like:
- Bipolar
- depression
- psychotic disorder
- PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
- OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)
- Borderline personality disorder
- panic disorder
- moderate to severe substance use disorder(s)
- Display concerns/challenges in areas of daily living.
Statistics
Keep Up to date with the end homelessness website!
Keep Up to date with the end homelessness website!
Keep Up to date with the end homelessness website!
Keep Up to date with the end homelessness website!
Keep Up to date with the end homelessness website!
North Dakota Homelessness Statistics
As of January 2020, North Dakota had an estimated 541 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Keep Up to date with the end homelessness website!
Between 2007 and 2022, North Dakota's Total homeless population changed by 4%, the Sheltered population changed by 9%, and the Unsheltered population changed by 41%
https://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/
WHY ARE PEOPLE HOMELESS?
Housing
A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness. Recently, foreclosures have also increased the number of people who experience homelessness.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that the 2017 Housing Wage is $21.21 per hour, exceeding the $16.38 hourly wage earned by the average renter by almost $5.00 an hour, and greatly exceeding wages earned by low income renter households. In fact, the hourly wage needed for renters hoping to afford a two-bedroom rental home is $13.96 higher than the national minimum wage of $7.25.
Poverty
Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income that must be dropped. If you are poor, you are essentially an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the national poverty rate in 2016 was 12.7%. There were 40.6 million people in poverty. While the poverty rate has been slowly declining since 2014, a couple of factors account for continuing poverty:
- Lack of Employment Opportunities – With unemployment rates remaining high, jobs are hard to find in the current economy. Even if people can find work, this does not automatically provide an escape from poverty.
- Decline in Available Public Assistance – The declining value and availability of public assistance is another source of increasing poverty and homelessness and many families leaving welfare struggle to get medical care, food, and housing as a result of loss of benefits, low wages, and unstable employment. Additionally, most states have not replaced the old welfare system with an alternative that enables families and individuals to obtain above-poverty employment and to sustain themselves when work is not available or possible.
Other major factors, which can contribute to homelessness, include:
- Lack of Affordable Health Care – For families and individuals struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can start a downward spiral into homelessness, beginning with a lost job, depletion of savings to pay for care, and eventual eviction.
- Domestic Violence – Battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness. In addition, 50% of the cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2005).
- Mental Illness – Approximately 16% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2005).
- Addiction – The relationship between addiction and homelessness is complex and controversial. Many people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs never become homeless, but people who are poor and addicted are clearly at increased risk of homelessness.
WHO EXPERIENCES HOMELESSNESS?
Persons living in poverty are most at risk of becoming homeless, and demographic groups who are more likely to experience poverty are also more likely to experience homelessness. Yet because of methodological and financial constraints, most studies are limited to counting persons who are in shelters or on the street. While the Census Bureau has taken a series of innovations to better incorporate the homeless population, these procedures continue to undercount this group by failing to visit many locations with homeless populations. Additionally, different governmental agencies often present different estimates/counts, making the figures on homelessness inconclusive.
Housing and Urban Development’s Point-in-Time Count, 2016:
- HUD found 549,928 individuals to be homeless on a single night in January 2016. Most homeless persons (65%) are individuals while 35% of homeless persons are in family households.
- The number of families experiencing homelessness has increased significantly from past years. For example, in 2013 only 15% of homeless persons were in family households.
- 31% of all homeless people were youths under the age of 24.
- Close to 40,000 veterans were homeless on a single night in January 2016. 66% were residing in shelters or transitional housing programs, while 33% were without shelter.
- The number of those in homeless shelters or transitional housing was split almost equally between people in families (47%) and individuals (53%).
- Five states, California (22%), New York (16%), Florida (6%), Texas (4%), and Washington (4%), accounted for more than half of the homeless population in the United States in 2016.
WHERE DO PEOPLE EXPERIENCE HOMELESSNESS?
Homelessness is often assumed to be an urban phenomenon because homeless people are more numerous, more geographically concentrated, and more visible in urban areas. However, people experience the same difficulties associated with homelessness and housing distress in America's small towns and rural areas as they do in urban areas.
In urban areas, estimates commonly rely on counts of persons using services. However, by this measure, homeless persons in rural areas are likely substantially under-counted due to the lack of rural service sites, the difficulty capturing persons who do not use homeless services, the limited number of researchers working in rural communities, and the minimal incentive for rural providers to collect data on their clients.
Rural homelessness, like urban homelessness, is the result of poverty and a lack of affordable housing, and research has shown:
- The odds of being poor are between 1.2 to 2.3-times higher for people in non-metropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas
- 1 in 5 non-metro counties is classified as a ‘high poverty’ county (having a poverty rate of 20% or higher), while only 1 in 20 metro counties are defined as such
- Homeless people in rural areas are more likely to be white, female, married, currently working, homeless for the first time, and homeless for a shorter period of time
Types of Homeless
Hidden Homeless
Transitional Homeless
Transitional Homeless
Many people who become homeless do not show up in official figures. This is known as hidden homelessness. This includes people who become homeless but find a temporary solution by staying with family members or friends, living in squats or other insecure accommodation.
Transitional Homeless
Transitional Homeless
Transitional Homeless
Transitional homelessness is defined as a state of homelessness that's a result of a major life change or catastrophic event. Those life events could include losing a job, a medical condition, divorce, domestic abuse, and more. People experiencing transitional homelessness have been homeless for less than a year.
Episodic Homeless
Episodic Homeless
Episodic Homeless
Episodic homelessness refers to individuals who are currently homeless and have experienced at least three periods of homelessness in the previous year. … These individuals are also likely to be younger and generally enter a shelter or temporary housing system for only one brief stay.
Chronic Homeless
Episodic Homeless
Episodic Homeless
Chronic homelessness has been defined as a single individual (or head of household) with a disabling condition who has either: Experienced homelessness for longer than a year, during which time the individual may have lived in a shelter, Safe Haven, or a place not meant for human habitation.
Myths and Facts
https://www.councilforthehomeless.org/myths-facts-about-homelessness/
Myth: People who are homeless should just get a job and then they would not be homeless.
Fact: Many people who are homeless do have jobs, sometimes two or even three. The National Coalition for the Homeless estimates as many as 40%-60% of people experiencing homelessness nationwide are employed. However, a paycheck does not necessarily solve their homelessness or other challenges.
In Clark County, a full-time worker earning $13.50/hr. minimum wage would need to work 73 hours per week to afford a one bedroom apartment, at the fair market rent of $1,289. At 40 hours per week, a household would need to earn $28.75/hour for a two-bedroom, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) annual 2020 Out of Reach Report.
In addition, it is difficult to find and keep a job while living in a car, tent, shelter, or outside with no place to bathe regularly, receive mail, do laundry, and feel safe enough to focus on employment responsibilities versus daily survival.
Myth: People choose to be homeless.
Fact: This myth is dangerous and allows us to ignore the trauma of homelessness and neurobiological effects trauma has on humans. Being homeless is stressful, humiliating, exhausting, and dangerous. It is a hard day-to-day existence for men, women, and children.
Some people may choose to sleep outside rather than in a shelter because they fear having to leave their pets or possessions outside. They also may not want to leave their community of others living outside. They may also be living with serious mental and physical health conditions with symptoms that make it difficult to have the capacity and ability to make rational decisions. In addition, some shelters and housing programs have strict criteria that potentially “screen out” the most vulnerable people.
When we take the time to engage and listen to someone’s story, we often hear they are not “choosing to be homeless” but rather the other choices available are undesirable, have been tried or misunderstood. For now, their current situation is better than the alternative because they have become accustomed to living unhoused. Homelessness is traumatic and complicated and solutions are not a one-size-fits-all.
Myth: People who are homeless are dangerous, violent, and/or criminals.
Fact: A person who is homeless is no more likely to be a criminal than a person who is housed, with one legal exception: camping ordinances. People who are homeless break that law merely by being unhoused. The reality is that most spend their time and resources trying to survive and improve their situation.
Rather than being dangerous or lawbreakers, they are parents trying to work or find a job while they live in a car with their children. They are teens who have no supportive adults in their lives while they try to find a place to live, so they can hopefully stay in school. They are senior citizens with poor health and a fixed income struggling to get by. People who are homeless are more likely to be victims of a crime than to commit a crime. It is important that we not vilify people without homes but instead, see them as neighbors in need of shelter and best-fit assistance to help them find a home.
Myth: Housing should come with conditions like being clean and sober.
Fact: Evidence tells us that people who are homeless can find stability and healing when provided empowering supports focused on housing and supports. Known as Housing First, this approach acknowledges the complexities of addiction, trauma, and the challenges that come with experiencing homelessness. It also acknowledges that it can be very difficult to successfully address challenges while living on the streets or in an unsafe and unstable situation. Read more about the evidence behind approaches that drive an end to homelessness.
Housing First is an evidence-based practice used in our local homeless crisis response system. For example, all publicly funded emergency shelters focus first and foremost on reducing barriers to housing and increasing household wraparound supports. The community also has scattered site housing first permanent supportive housing, where units are rented from private landlords and the tenants are heavily engaged through case management. Over 200 of these scattered site units exist in Clark County.
Myth: There is nothing I can do about homelessness.
Fact: Effectively reducing homelessness will take the entire community working together around this common
goal.
Be Kind: When those experiencing homelessness are asked what can community members to do help, the reply is resounding familiar, Simply Be kind. Kindness is a rare commodity for those who are unhoused. Unspeakable acts of violence and disrespect occur to people who are unhoused daily and often the act of kindness one shows, is the only sharing of humanity experienced throughout the day.
Speak Up: Homelessness is a complex challenge rooted in many social injustices. In order to effectively reduce homelessness we must advocate for person-centered, trauma-informed supports that meet people where they are in life.
Share Time: Volunteerism is vital to the sustainability of existing resources and new resources.
Volunteer with winter and severe weather sheltering efforts.
Volunteer with Council for the Homeless.
Volunteer with other local agencies that serve people experiencing homelessness.
Rent or Hire: People and families experiencing homelessness are regularly in need of housing and work opportunities. Those who are unhoused are as diverse as the general public in their needs, experience, drive and skills. If you’d like to learn more about how you can help contact our Housing Solutions Center.