Emergency Shelter 

CUFH's Emergency Shelter serves men, women and families who are currently homeless and in need of immediate and short-term shelter. The Emergency Shelter Program has a current capacity to serve up to 22 single men, 6 single women and 6 families a night (36 family members). CUFH currently, operates at capacity 80% of the time, and has consistency operated 5% over capacity in severe weather conditions. 

Need: CUFH is the only agency in the F-M community, as well as within the entire West Central Region, that provides emergency shelter to men, women and families; allowing couples, women with older male children, and two-parent head of households to remain together in their family unit during a time of crisis. 

Increasingly, the shelter is at capacity leading to a significant number of individuals needing to be turned away.  Last year, CUFH turned away 351 persons, 18 of which were families with children (unduplicated #'s).  

Maintaining existing emergency shelter services is vital to keeping persons off of the street until such a time when homelessness can be prevented. 

Hours of Operation:  The shelter is open to the public from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM.  The men's and women's dorms are closed from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  The family dorms remain open 24 hours to accommodate families with small children. 

Program Eligibility:  Any single person or family who is currently homeless and willing to follow basic shelter policies.  Shelter beds are available on a first come/first serve basis. 

Policies:  Shelter residents are offered a 30-day stay at the shelter with the option of extensions. Extensions are granted on the basis of participant's progress on their permanent housing goals.  In an effort to reduce the revolving door, individuals may not check back into the shelter for 90 days after leaving. Participants are required to sign and date a policy agreement state-ment prior to receiving services.  All of CU's programs have an appeals process. Participants may request an advocate at any time during an appeal.  CUFH policies are based on assuring the health and safety of all staff, volunteers, and participants.  All incidents are documented immediately and the client is notified of their status.

Average length of stay: 16.5 days

Statistics:  

Annual Statistics

Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Total Residents:	758	739	735	753	720	768	844	907
Single Men	485	485	484	480	472	440	473	511
Single Women	73	62	88	78	70	96	108	144
Families:	55	53	52	48	54	62	75	73
Parents	86	92	75	72	78	98	118	105
Children	108	100	97	113	100	134	145	147
Total Beds	12,254	11,875	12,979	12,465	13,107	12,639	15,474	16,985
Average Beds/Night	34	33	36	34	36	36	43	46

Total Residents	73
Single Men	50
Single Women	13
Families	4
Moms	3
Dads	1
Children	6
Total Beds	1,344
Average Beds/Night	43

 

Previous Residency	%
Clay County	25%
Cass County	16%
MN (not Clay Co.)	29%
ND (not Cass Co.)	4%
Other	25%

Ethnicity	%
Caucasian	55%
African American	10%
Native American	24%
Hispanic	7%
Other	4%

 

Age	%
0-17	8%
18-21	8%
22-64	81%
65>	3%

Veterans

10%

Individuals Turned Away	#
Men	26
Women	22
Families	22
Total Turned Away	63