Planning Commission Votes to Extend Length of Stay At Shelters

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The St. Cloud Planning Commission has voted to extend the maximum number of days a person can stay at a homeless shelter.

The Commission held a public hearing on the issue during its meeting Tuesday night.

Charles Hempeck from Anna Marie's Alliance says they are the only domestic violence shelter in Minnesota with a city-imposed maximum length of stay.

We've worked within those confines, but it continues to be a challenge and it gets to be more challenging.

Captain Nate North of the Salvation Army says sometimes it takes 45 days for a homeless person just to get out of crisis.

So we're seeing people become homeless in the emergency shelters, who are spending all that time just feeling comfortable enough to start working with our case managers. It has definitely presented challenges.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to extend the maximum length of stay from the current 45 days to 120 days, with 10 percent of the population able to apply for an extension from the current 90 days to 180 days.

The commission says they are open to making more changes in the future as needed.