Hennepin County Board and Regional Railroad Authority

Remote

• Approved several appointments for Citizen Advisory Boards

• Approved the appointment of Mary Ellen Heng, who currently works as Deputy City Attorney of the Criminal Division for the City of Minneapolis, to be the county’s new Director of Justice Initiatives and Program Performance

• Approved several housing initiatives previously discussed in committee meetings, including:

  • Transferring one of the hotels the county’s Housing & Redevelopment Authority owns for housing services, Fed Plaza Hotel, to the county’s Human Services department, which will use it to provide structured, supportive housing, rather than a single room occupancy shelter without that extra support.

• Approved allocating $2,404,092 for increasing capacity of the rapid rehousing program for families experiencing homelessness in emergency shelters.

  • David Hewitt, director of housing stability, said the county is over 200% capacity, meaning that more than double the number of families in shelter units are being housed in overflow.