City hears update on regional homelessness plan; commission okays one-month bridge of overnight shelter space

United Way of Cass-Clay and the Fargo-Moorhead Coalition to End Homelessness presented a progress report on a coordinated initiative to prevent and end homelessness in the Cass-Clay region and asked the commission to permit continued overnight sheltering at the Fargo Cass Public Health building through June 1, funded by grants.

The request was part of a larger effort the presenters called “United to End Homelessness,” which aims to make homelessness “rare, brief and one time” by scaling shelter, rapid rehousing, supportive housing and prevention services and by convening a regional interagency council. "We have 2 identified goals as part of that initial process: minimize the rise in unsheltered homelessness and build a foundation for a comprehensive plan to prevent and end homelessness," Taylor Sivertson, director of community impact at United Way of Cass-Clay, told the commission.

The presenters said portions of the local homeless response system are overburdened. They estimated roughly 1,050 individuals experiencing homelessness in the Fargo–Moorhead area on a given night and roughly 330 emergency shelter beds available. "Certain parts of our system are overwhelmed," Chandler Eslinger, executive director of the FM Coalition to End Homelessness, said. "We…