Mission of Simpson Housing
To provide shelter and affordable housing with support services to homeless men, women and children, to assist individuals and families in their effort to improve their life situations and to advocate for their human and civil rights.

Timeline of growth

1982 Simpson UMC opens the doors of the church basement for emergency shelter to an ever-increasing number of homeless people in the community.

1984 A continued rise in the number of people seeking shelter prompts the formation of the Transitional Housing program for families and single adults.

1985 Simpson hosts the first Homeless Memorial March and Service honoring Minnesotans who have died while homeless. It becomes a powerful, annual event.

1990 Funding from HUD under the Supportive Housing Demonstration Project focuses the transitional housing efforts on families.

1993 Recognizing our non-sectarian role in the community, Simpson incorporates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

1994 Kids-First program begins working with the families in our Transitional Housing Program.

1999 The first Education Support Advocate is hired to assist children in succeeding in school, helping to break the cycle of homelessness.

1999 In response to more single adult women seeking shelter, Simpson opens an independent women’s shelter. Men’s and women’s shelters remain open 12 months out of the year to meet an increasing demand for year round shelter.

1999 Simpson volunteers provide meals at the shelters 365 days out of the year, staff the men’s shelter overnight, tutor kids in the Family Housing program, and provide assistance to the people we serve.

1999 Shelter opens during the day to meet the needs of 3rd shift workers. Demand decreases within a year and the day shelter is closed.

2000 Transitional Housing grows from helping 26 to 40 families.

2001 The Simpson savings program provides shelter guests and families the opportunity to save a portion of their income to help get into housing. To date, over a thousand participants have taken advantage.

2001 Soar program for kids intensifies work with families through tutoring, parenting workshops, reward outings and family fun events. Additional Education Support Advocates are hired.

2002 The Rental Assistance program is added to assist families from our Transitional Housing program who need a bit more time to attain stability.   

2005 Single Adult Rental Assistance (SARA) program begins working with long-term homeless men and women. Thirty adults are housed as a result.

2005 Administrative offices are moved to Bell House on Pillsbury Avenue in Minneapolis, purchased by Gary and Karen Kirt for Simpson.

2006 Through Family Roots Alliance, a collaboration with Lutheran Social Services, we are serving an additional 40 long-term homeless families throughout the Twin Cities metro area.

2006 Simpson is contracted to provide support services to 10 families in transition at the ZOOM House apartments in south Minneapolis.

2006 The Simpson Celebrates Community awards are established to recognize outstanding Simpson program participants, volunteers and community partners.

2006 Building off of the success of the SARA program and in partnership with St. Stephen’s Human Services, Spectrum Community Mental Health, and the American Indian Community Development Corporation, the COHR team is formed. 50 long-term homeless men and women are placed into housing.

2007 The new Women’s Housing Partnership begins placing single adult women from our shelter into housing. It is the first gender-specific program of its kind in the nation.

2007 Simpson acquires Passage Community Housing, a 17-unit apartment building providing transitional housing to families.

2007 We begin providing support services at Elliot Park apartments to long-term homeless families in need of intensive support services.

2007 The addition of the Housing First program, which serves families with multiple barriers to finding and maintaining housing, brings the goal number of families served to 160.

2007 The COHR partnership creates an additional team to work with long-term homeless adults using Group Residential Housing (GRH) funds. 52 additional single adults are placed into housing.

2008 Simpson celebrates a banner year of volunteerism in 2007. 462 people volunteering as individuals and 208 volunteer groups provided 30,038 hours of volunteer time to Simpson. This is the equivalent of 14.5 full-time employees.

Updated March 2008

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The Simpson DVD tells the story of what we do and who we serve. Request a copy