Emergency Rental Assistance
The harmful impact of Operation Metro Surge on families in Minnesota cannot be understated. At People Serving People, both the families we support and the resources we rely on to serve them have been severely impacted by this year’s events that targeted our most vulnerable families through a policy of forced family separation. The impacts are wide-ranging. Here, we discuss the impact on one of our key programs, our Homeless Prevention Program, which provides funding for emergency rental assistance to keep families housed.
About our Homeless Prevention Program
People Serving People supports families experiencing homelessness who are in immediate need of shelter, as well as families who are currently housed but at risk of eviction or otherwise losing their housing. We help families who are at risk of eviction stay housed through direct cash assistance. That assistance is often in the form of rental assistance. Other times, what families need to stay housed is for us to help pay for a car repair so they can continue to get their kids to school and themselves to work. And sometimes families need help paying a utility bill.
People Serving People budgets approximately $400,000 each year to fund our Homeless Prevention Program, and we generally support former guests of our shelters so that they can remain stably housed.
In 2025, we supported 67 families, which is four times the number we served in 2022.
Requests for rental assistance have doubled
In 2026, we continue to see the harm to families caused by various federal actions. The most recent being Operation Metro Surge. Families who generally do not need our support have found themselves at risk of losing their housing because they have been faced with an impossible choice: lose their source of income or continue to work and risk being permanently separated from their partners and children.
As rent became due in February, we noticed two things:
- Requests for rental assistance doubled.
- Many of the families calling for support were not our former guests (as is typical) but working families who needed assistance for the first time.
This is consistent with new research from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, which estimates that rent debt has more than doubled across the state due to Operation Metro Surge.
Why emergency rental assistance works
Keeping families housed is the best solution for everyone. Our shelters should be places of last resort, not a remedy for the existing, now exacerbated housing crisis. The housing crisis existed before Operation Metro Surge. The costs of housing, utilities, food, healthcare, and childcare are unaffordable for more and more individuals and families. Our shelters are already beyond capacity, and the options for people to find alternative, affordable housing are dwindling. Keeping people housed is essential for sustainable communities.
Keeping families housed is the best solution for everyone. Our shelters should be places of last resort, not remedies for the existing, now-exacerbated housing crisis. The housing crisis existed before Operation Metro Surge. The costs of housing, utilities, food, healthcare, and childcare are unaffordable for more and more individuals and families.
Our shelters are already beyond capacity, and the options for people to find alternative, affordable housing are dwindling. Keeping people housed is essential for sustainable communities.
While some promote eviction restrictions as a solution to the current crisis, we know that such restrictions—without rental assistance—become debt traps. They look and sound like help, but all they do is put a bandage on a wound that continues to worsen. We need to prevent evictions and keep people from incurring unmanageable debt. Eviction restrictions alone mean that people continue to incur rent debt they cannot pay. If families can’t pay one month’s rent, they surely can’t pay several months of rent when restrictions end.
We only have to go back four years, when the COVID eviction moratorium was lifted, to see the proof. We experienced a surge of individuals and families entering shelter because the moratorium didn’t include rental assistance. We need solutions, not options that only kick the can down the road.
Simultaneously, many affordable housing providers operate on thin margins and cannot afford another moratorium in which they are not paid. Rental assistance, on the other hand, is a solution for our most marginalized tenants and the organizations that support them.
What you can do to support families
1. Donate to People Serving People’s Rent Relief Fund
2. Speak up now
This year, more than ever, Minnesotans have unequivocally shown the world that we take care of one another. Demand that our city and state leaders fund emergency rental assistance match our level of care and support. Make your voice heard. Support emergency rental assistance because you believe we should protect families and that caring for each other is a value we should all hold.
- Contact your city council members and state representatives
- Contact your mayor’s office
Share this article with your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. When we know better, we do better.
3. Support your community
It takes all of us to care for one another. Families face increasing barriers to staying house. Consider donating to your local food shelf, contributing to the continuing work of mutual aid organizations, and lending a hand to a neighbor in need. Keep. Showing. Up.
4. Hear more of our conversations about the urgent need for rental assistance
- Hoang Murphy speaks with MPR about why rental assistance is an urgent and necessary first step to redress the harms of Operation Metro Surge, as Mayor Frey proposes an additional $1M in funding for emergency rental assistance.
- Read our article on why rental assistance, allocated and delivered in a timely way, is the best solution for keeping families housed, and why eviction restrictions that are not also paired with rent assistance often become insurmountable debt traps for individuals and families.
