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SERIES: Collective Health

The needs, solutions, and action taken by community members to create a healthier society.
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YOUTH: How Do We Apply Community to Housing Solutions?

"By 16, I was sleeping in my own truck. When I turned 18, I bounced between my car, my grandfather’s house, and unstable rentals."
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How My Sister and I Are Building Houses in Grand Marais

"We don’t build for new people moving into the community, but for the ones already here who are struggling to stay due to costs growing out of their reach. Many people we know have already left due to lack of affordable housing."
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One Family’s Journey Into Building an Intentional Community

Twin Cities Family Cooperative uses consensus for decision-making, which is common in cohousing communities compared to more general cooperatives. Households own a share in the community rather than owning a unit. As such, they can move spaces as family needs change. Monthly operating dues are based on a percentage of the household’s income regardless of the space.
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Co-op Real Estate: A Collective Solution

Frustrated with how traditional developers were mismanaging neighborhood properties and ignoring community needs, Leslie Watson and her neighbors decided that they needed to act.
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ACTION: Elizabeth Glidden Talks About Housing Next Steps

Currently there are multiple campaigns Minnesotans can get involved with related to housing: Yes to Homes, and Our Future Starts at Home. There also are popular state housing tax credits, students building affordable houses, community land trusts, and attempts to reduce red tape.
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ACTION STEPS: Volunteer, Talk, Interact, Learn

Volunteers Needed for Minneapolis Homeless Peace House offers…
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SOLUTION: Designing for Safety

"In February 2026, a vision became real for a network I have been working alongside. Through partnership with federal leaders and community advocates, we purchased a safe home designed specifically for African immigrant and refugee survivors of domestic violence. It is a space where women do not have to choose between safety and their children."
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Sue Watlov Phillips. Photo by Sarah Whiting

DEEP DIVE: Why Housing Gaps Are a Central Issue in Society

When I began this work nearly 59 years ago, the landscape was very different. We demolished large amounts of low-cost housing and built office buildings, many of which now sit underused or vacant. At the same time, we began to shift our mental health system, but we failed to build the housing and supports necessary to make that transition successful.
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A Conversation With Jewelean Jackson

"We have the resources to address it. What we lack is political will. Still, I believe in perseverance. I’ve seen legislation pass by a single vote. I’ve seen young people fight back against unfair housing practices and win. I’ve seen what happens when people refuse to give up. So, as long as I’m here, that’s exactly what I intend to do."
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The Long Journey of Zenobia Carson

When you are in that space of thinking “this is all I can do, I can’t do any better,” then you are stuck in a limbo life. Many women around me had hearts for doing other things. They just did not know how to make it happen.
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FUTURE FORWARD: A Solution to Youth Homelessness 

As a member of the youth delegation connecting with legislators this year, we are recommending development of a pilot program to identify, renovate, and repurpose vacant buildings into affordable housing for youth, with dedicated funding allocated in the next state budget cycle.
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Supportive Housing, and Other Solutions Proposed in This Legislative Session

One of the Minnesota legislative bills now signed into law helps supportive housing providers stay open in 2026 with an infusion of $9 million, to make up for some of the funds lost from the federal government. We unpack why this is one of several important housing bills being discussed for the state.
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What I Am Building For Homeless and At-Risk Teens, and Why

"Inspirations for Aspirations is my answer to the question that haunted me through foster care: Where do kids like me go when there's nowhere safe to land? Now I'm building that place — the sanctuary I needed, designed by someone who understands what these youth are surviving because I survived it too."
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Community Members on Front Lines Ask for Statewide Eviction Moratorium

With February rent due, at least 68 organizations came together to ask for an eviction moratorium so that renters cannot be kicked out of their homes while ICE agents are targeting Black and brown faces.
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SERIES: Healing & CaregivingHealing the Wounds of History: The Saint Paul Reparations Commission