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WILLMAR, Minn. — Homelessness and poverty can look different in rural areas.

It is less about people sleeping on the streets or in tent camps, and more about sleeping in cars or with multiple families in one small residence, always with the threat of eviction hanging over their heads.

It is about the extreme challenges finding affordable and safe housing options on a tight budget, even if one is employed full time. It can be made even worse if someone made a mistake in life and now finds doors to rental properties shut in their face.

Shelby Lindrud / West Central Tribune

"I think we are experiencing a paradigm shift of what the challenges of poverty is and what that looks like," said Kelsey Vosika, executive director for . "How we respond needs to shift as well."

In that vein, Family Promise is opening its first family housing shelter, located in Willmar. The shelter will provide safe and stable housing for families without homes while they work to get back on their feet. The shelter has living space for seven to nine families, doubling the number of families the organization can help at one time compared to its initial model of service that relied on partner churches having space.
"We've drastically seen the number of families that come for help increase," Vosika said, who has been with Family Promise since 2020. "We've been running a waiting list here since I started. We've just never been able to meet the demand."

The building has individual bedrooms that can sleep up to three people and each has its own bathroom. There is also a common kitchen, dining area and space for people to congregate and work on various tasks.

Shelby Lindrud / West Central Tribune

"We want it to be homey," Vosika said. "It is more residential, it is more comfortable. When you have that stability, people can springboard off of that. It gives them a better chance to move forward."

Each of the bedrooms has been sponsored by an area church and decorated in a unique style. While the new shelter means Family Promise will no longer have to house families at various churches, the relationships with the churches remain instrumental to the organization's success. Programming and services that were once provided by the host congregations will now happen at the family shelter.

Contributed / John Kellen

"This building is the kickoff of changing our model entirely," Vosika said. "But our churches are still our core partnership."

Since 2016, Family Promise, a nonprofit, has been assisting families struggling with homelessness. The group works with 22 area churches to provide shelter, food and case management services to those families. The goal is for the families to be able to leave the shelter in roughly 90 days and move into permanent housing.

"We're not providing financial assistance; we are providing time," Vosika said. "We provide time for that family to lift themselves out of that situation."

Those who come to Family Promise for help can be struggling for various reasons. It might be an inability to find a place to live. While Willmar has seen several apartment buildings constructed in the last few years, they are filling up quickly and may be too expensive for many of the clients seen by Family Promise.

"Waiting lists are getting scary long" for housing, Vosika said. "There is just too much demand."
The simple reason is that the cost of everything from food and utilities to child care and rent has risen significantly, which can put a major burden on low-income families, even those who are working. Vosika said 87% of those assisted by Family Promise are working at least one full-time job — many are working multiple jobs.

"They are working, they are grinding and they are going through this cycle, but they are paying a lot for housing," Vosika said. "It is not that they are irresponsible, it is not that they are doing anything wrong but our accessibility to housing that is affordable is the problem."

Shelby Lindrud / West Central Tribune

And for many of those struggling, they may not have anyone else to turn to for help.

Many of the families coming to Family Promise are young with parents under the age of 25 with very small children. They may never have had someone believe in them, or support them. The support and belief that Family Promise provides can sometimes be as important as any physical assistance. It can be a life-changer.

"Part of our mission is to be that for families in the community that don't have it," Vosika said. "Our mission is we believe in you and you can get through this period of time."

To be successful in that mission, Family Promise relies on volunteers not only from the partner churches, but also from the community.

Vosika feels it is important for the gap between those struggling with homelessness and those who are not to be bridged. It helps open eyes and hearts about what homelessness is really about.

The volunteers can also help provide a support group for those who are struggling or just need someone to talk to, even after they leave the shelter. Vosika said those interested can contact the group through its website or at 320-441-2288 .

"Get involved, so you can see and be a part of it," Vosika said. "Realistically, every single one of us is not very far away from a major life event that could cause us to be in this situation. It takes one job loss, it takes one medical problem, it takes not having a family to step in. It doesn't take much."

Family Promise is already in the process of interviewing the families that will move into the new residential shelter. The hardest part of Vosika's job has been having to say no to families and she is excited she will be able to say yes a little bit more.

"I just love that," Vosika said.

Contributed / John Kellen