CHUM, Union Gospel Mission along with seven other organizations sent a letter to Mayor Reinert outlining their concerns about Duluth’s ten proposed city ordinances. The proposal would alter city code to make certain non-violent crimes misdemeanors replacing fines in some cases – something that the mayor admits hasn’t worked in the past.

Statement:

“Mayor Reinert,

We are deeply interested in your proposed public safety ordinances and equally curious about the parties consulted during their formulation. Notable, none of the entities listed below were invited to provide feedback on these ordinance changes, some of which appear to criminalize homelessness. In the absence of adequate shelter beds and housing units in Duluth, and without a mechanism for effective diversion, we harbor significant concerns that these policies could have unintended and adverse impacts on fellow citizens and on many of our programs.

To address these issues, we request two meetings before the ordinances are taken up by City Council. The first meeting is to gain clarity on your objectives. The second meeting is to be held after we have had the opportunity to reflect on the language and intended purpose of the ordinances, allowing us to provide informed policy input that aligns with the core values of Duluth.”

The letter was signed by the executive directors of the following agencies: CHUM, Safe Haven, the Damiano Center, 1Roof Community Housing, Arc Northland, The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, Union Gospel Mission the Center for Alcohol & Drug Treatment and the Center City Housing Corp.

On Friday, July 19th Executive Director of CHUM, John Cole along with Executive Director of Union Gospel Mission, Katie Hagglund joined Good Morning Northland’s Nyah Adams to talk more in depth.

CHUM and Union Gospel mission work directly with the unhoused population, giving those resources a place to stay. Monday, July 15th CHUM’s John Cole said during the City Council meeting “CHUM has no beds available, Lifehouse has no beds available, SafeHaven has no beds available, Union Gospel Mission has no beds CADT has nine beds. You know who was the most beds in our system? The jail with 37.”

Mayor Reinert’s administration told the public that CHUM has been involved in these conversations but Cole says they were only informed one day before the mayor first announced the package a week prior.

“We were informed of the proposed ordinances the day before the mayor announced it, we had no opportunity for input and we were not involved in the drafting or conception of it. As for the agencies who day by day, 24/7 are involved in this we thought that we should be involved and have the opportunity to make input subsequent to that after the mayor made his announcement,” said Cole.

He went on to add that since then they have had the opportunity to meet with the mayor to discuss and start conversations and get a full read of the proposed ordinance package. “We’ve started talking about the reality of what is proposed and how it will impact us.”

Executive Director of Union Mission Gospel Katie Hagglund says that Rochester Minnesota has implemented similar ordinances. “In Rochester, they’re not seeing any less folks experiencing homelessness. What they are seeing is the unhoused population moving into private property. The problem has not been solved. The fear here in Duluth is that you’re going to start seeing our homeless neighbors in need push into the Lakeside, Woodland, Hermantown and Proctor communities.”

Cole and Hagglund both say that they are not against the entirety of the ordinance package. However, they feel that the process is being rushed.

“We need the community to come on board and support us, we’ve been working on potential solutions with shelter providers for the past two years and we need administration to sit with us and to understand we have been working on rolling out solutions that have the potential for addressing the public safety concerns and the human interest concerns for the people we serve. What we need is time, not the criminalization of people’s economic status,” said Cole.

Cole and Hagglund both note that there is a housing crisis in Minnesota and Duluth, addressing that is where we need to start. “We want to be able to benefit the wider community, not just those experiencing homelessness. We live in a delicate ecosystem and when you squeeze one part of it, it’s going to put pressure on the other so we want to pay attention to all of those facets,” said Cole.

Both are hopeful and say that they’re hopeful that they will have a seat at the table in these conversations moving forward. The second reading of the ten proposed city ordinances is on July 29th where a vote will follow.