Belonging Place Will Serve 52 More Families
People Serving People (“PSP”), Minnesota’s largest and most comprehensive provider of emergency shelter and stabilization programs for families experiencing homelessness, is excited to announce that Hennepin County has approved our expansion to serve 52 more families at a new shelter location opening Friday, September 4, 2026.
Belonging Place, named after one of our core values, will be People Serving People’s third shelter location, joining our current shelters, which include:
Possibility Place, located at 614 South 3rd Street, just a few blocks from the new shelter. Possibility Place is Minnesota’s largest family homeless shelter, with 99 family emergency shelter rooms and 10 Permanent Supportive Housing apartments.
St. Anne’s Place, which is in the Jordan Neighborhood of Minneapolis and serves 16 women- and nonbinary-led families.
With the opening of Belonging Place, People Serving People will expand the number of families it can serve by nearly 50%.
Each day, we will now provide emergency shelter and supportive housing, three hot meals, daily supplies (such as diapers, baby formula), and comprehensive support services (housing advocacy, early childhood education, after-school programming, financial literacy education, job support, etc.) for:
- 177 families
- Approx. 500 people
- 330 children under 18
Partnering with Hennepin County
People Serving People is grateful to Hennepin County for partnering with us to expand our successful model for supporting families experiencing homelessness. We are thrilled to continue to have a positive impact, ensuring that 95% of families who receive shelter and support from us do not return to shelter within one year.
People Serving People’s CEO Hoang Murphy commented, “We truly commend Hennepin County for being one of the only counties in the country that guarantees shelter for families, and we are honored to expand our partnership with the county to meet the growing need for safe and dignified shelter and programs for families experiencing homelessness.”
A place to sleep and get a warm meal is just the start of what we do at People Serving People. The heart of our work—the foundation of successful outcomes for families—is the day-to-day programs and services our staff provides to help each family get back into a home of their own. While Hennepin County provides funding for emergency shelter, People Serving People relies on the generosity of our corporate partners, foundations, and individual donors to provide half of our funding. At the heart of this historic expansion is our commitment to our mission and vision. Murphy explained,
“We will continue to grow as much as we need to until no child, no family, faces impossible choices because they do not have safe, stable, and affordable housing.”
“It’s our mission to serve families, and we are honored to partner with the county. But the reason for our expansion is devastating,” said Murphy. He explained, “We should never normalize family homelessness. Unfortunately, recent policy choices have led to a rapidly increasing need for emergency shelter for families. That’s why we are not simply an emergency shelter organization. We are proud to be a systems change organization that supports family preservation through comprehensive programs and services for every family member. From early learning programs for our youngest guests to financial literacy education for parents and caregivers, we meet families where they are by providing them with what they need to regain stability and stay together—to stay families.”
Community Support Makes Our Expansion Possible
With just a few weeks to transform the space into a dignified shelter, People Serving People quickly pivoted to increase staffing by 15%, renovate the space, and have supplies and programs ready for families experiencing homelessness. We were able to do so through the support of many community partners, including:
- Bader Companies, which donated school supplies for our new K-12 guests
- Bridge to Basics, which donated family-sized hygiene products for all 52 families
- Pope Design Group, which donated 50 new backpacks for children (pictured)
- Tacoma Creek Hospitality and Four Seasons Minneapolis, which donated many of the linens for our new guest rooms
- Thrivent, which donated $5,000 for us to create move-in baskets
- The Supreme Council of America, which donated bathroom supplies for each room
To support this expansion of emergency shelter, programming, and services, People Serving People needs the community—from individuals, families, foundations, and businesses—to contribute $20 million toward its Powerful Families Campaign over the next three years.
Angie Johnson, People Serving People’s Chief Advancement Officer, said, “We are part of a community that takes care of each other, and this expansion is needed to more fully realize our goal to provide safe, dignified shelter and support services for families. We’re asking our community to step up with us and make sure that all families have what they need.”
How You Can Support Our New Shelter
1. Give Money
We depend on our community to help us fund the costs of opening and maintaining a third shelter for families. Your donation’s impact can be measured every day, whether it helps fund the nearly $1 million in initial renovations for Belonging Place or helps us buy bunk beds, diapers and formula, blankets and sheets, or cleaning supplies; every dollar means we can provide safe, dignified shelter for caregivers and their children.
2. Give Items
Our supporters have already started standing up for families by donating so many of the initial supplies that families will need when they arrive. Help us keep up this generous momentum. Shop our wish list or visit our Donate Items page for more information.
3. Give Time
It’s not an overstatement to say that volunteers make our work possible. Find out how you can give your time and talents to support families at any of our three shelter locations by serving meals, providing childcare, helping with special projects, and more.
4. Become a Corporate Sponsor
Join other businesses who care deeply about their neighbors. Become a Corporate Sponsor and support families experiencing homelessness through meaningful employee engagement and financial sponsorships.
5. Stay Connected
Follow us on social (links in footer) and subscribe to our e-newsletter, Community Connection, to stay up to date on People Serving People’s expansion, ongoing work to support families experiencing homelessness, and our systems change advocacy to end family homelessness.
