Grand Forks officials, providers form working group as homelessness and shelter needs rise

City council members, public-health staff, law enforcement and a range of nonprofit and health providers met Sept. 15 in Grand Forks to review rising shelter demand, coordinate services and plan next steps after the recent dissolution of Red River Valley Community Action. The working group discussed short-term shelter gaps, expanded medical withdrawal-management services and longer-term housing needs.

The city’s community development manager, Colin Hanson, said Red River Valley Community Action has moved to dissolve and that the agency owns three properties: Ernie’s Place, a triplex built with federal pass-through funding and the Gateway Drive office. Hanson said the triplex is subject to a 20-year affordability period tied to HUD restrictions and that the city holds a $150,000 mortgage and a land‑use covenant on that property; Bremer Bank holds a prior mortgage on the site.

City public-health director Tess Walsh convened the working group to create a “continuum” view of needs from households at risk of losing housing to people who are unsheltered and disconnected from services. Walsh summarized recent meetings and said the group will focus on reducing duplication and identifying opportunities to direct limited funds where they can help people into long-term housing.

Nonprofit providers and health systems described how the local shelter and health system currently operates. Elton Hendrickson of Homeless Helpers said his volunteer group provides short stays, typically one to two nights, and has tracked hundreds of shelter nights year to year. Kayla Hostetler of Spectra Health described the clinic’s use of coordinated-entry and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to triage crises and connect people to housing and services, and warned that long application wait times for vouchers (about a year) and other barriers make long-term placement slow.

Koya Hopkins of CVIC (Mary’s Place) described a broader program of crisis shelter, transitional assistance and therapy and reported that demand had grown notably in recent years.

Northeast Human Service Center said it plans to open an enhanced withdrawal-management (“social detox”) service, located on Center, Inc.’s first floor, with 24-hour psychiatrist on-call coverage, on-site medications to manage withdrawal, 24‑hour nursing coverage and crisis stabilization already operating. Dr. Rose Julius, Northeast medical director, said the social‑detox component is scheduled to begin operations Nov. 1, with the purpose of providing an intermediate level of care so people who do not meet medical‑detox or hospital admission criteria can be supervised safely while withdrawing.

Altru Health System said it plans a long-term expansion of inpatient behavioral‑health capacity, moving from 24 to 48 inpatient psychiatric beds over the next 15–20 months. Corey Gaffrey, Altru’s chief nursing officer, said the expanded unit will treat people with acute exacerbations of psychiatric illness and will help regional emergency departments.

Police Chief Jason Friedman presented department data showing a 12% increase in calls for service across the downtown area in 2025 compared with last year and a 25% rise since 2023. Town Square, a downtown hotspot, had a larger spike in instances this year than in previous years. Friedman told the council his staff identified a small group of persistently high‑contact individuals: six people accounted for more than 1,000 calls for service across a four‑year window; most of the incidents have been low‑level, nonviolent quality‑of‑life calls. He said the police department is coordinating with community partners and a newly funded diversion program to target persistent drivers of disruptive calls.

State Recovery and Reentry Commissioner Jonathan Holt told the council the governor’s office has prioritized homelessness and recovery work and pledged state partnership on regional responses.

Next steps identified by the working group include deeper case reviews of the highest‑contact individuals, continued collaboration among behavioral-health, housing and law‑enforcement partners, and a review of the Red River Valley Community Action properties with Bremer Bank and state authorities as the agency dissolves. Stakeholders said the group will continue to meet and supply periodic updates to the council.

Why it matters: City and county officials, health-care providers and shelter operators told the council that a small number of high‑need people are driving large demands on responders, shelter beds and downtown businesses; providers emphasized the difference between short‑term crisis response, medical withdrawal care and sustained housing placements. The council-directed working group will be the primary venue to translate the new data and the state and provider commitments into operational steps.