Residents, volunteers urge Brainerd council to restore year‑round permission for Bridge on Seventh shelter

Dozens of residents and volunteers urged the Brainerd City Council on April 21 to reverse a recent decision that denied summer operations and shortened the shelter’s permit to one year for Bridge on Seventh, a low‑barrier seasonal shelter operated by Bridges of Hope.

At the city’s public forum, speakers — including former board members and current volunteers — framed the shelter as a local response to homelessness that helps people transition quickly into stable housing and argued the city’s April 7 action conflicted with a recently passed camping ordinance. "Those five words changed everything," said Sarah Nelson Katzenberger, a former Bridges of Hope board member, recounting the group’s decision to start the shelter. "It has saved lives, and it's restored hope."

Why it matters: speakers said the council’s decision to limit the shelter leaves local law enforcement without the services the city’s camping ordinance contemplates. Several speakers cited data collected by Bridges…