This timeline highlights notable moments in the history of Simpson Housing Services, from our beginnings in the basement of Simpson United Methodist Church to our new shelter and our expanded programs.
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| 1982: | Simpson United Methodist Church opens its doors for emergency shelter to an increasing number of people experiencing homelessness in the community. |
| A continued rise in the number of people seeking shelter prompts the formation of the Transitional Housing Program for families and single adults. | |
| 1984: | Simpson hosts the first Homeless Memorial March and Service honoring Minnesotans who have died while homeless. |
| 1992: | Funding from HUD under the Supportive Housing Demonstration Project focuses transitional housing efforts on families. |
| 1993: | The Transitions Housing Program serves 38 adults and 44 children with an average length of program participation of 139 days. |
| 1994: | Recognizing our non-sectarian role in the community, Simpson incorporates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. |
| 1997: | Simpson creates dedicated programming for children in our Transitional Housing Program, marking our first steps beyond case management. |
| 1998: | Simpson celebrates its 15th anniversary. |
| 1999: | The Family Housing Program serves a record number of 23 families with 56 children. The majority of these families faced five or more barriers to housing. |
| Simpson hires the first Education Advocate to support the educational success of children and help break the cycle of homelessness. | |
| 2001: | In response to more single adult women seeking shelter, Simpson opens an independent women’s shelter. |
| Simpson begins the Shelter Savings Program, giving guests the opportunity to save a portion of their income as they work toward housing stability. | |
| 2002: | Programming for children and their families expands to include tutoring, parenting workshops, and family fun events. |
| 2005: | The Rental Assistance Program is added to assist families in our Transitional Housing Program who need additional time to attain stability. |
| The Single Adult Rental Assistance Program begins, providing housing and support to 30 long-term homeless men and women. | |
| 2006: | Simpson’s administrative offices move to Bell House on Pillsbury Avenue in Minneapolis. The property was donated by Emeritus Board Members, Gary and Karen Kirt. |
| Through Family Roots Alliance, a collaboration with Lutheran Social Services, we serve an additional 42 long-term homeless families throughout the Twin Cities area. | |
| 2007: | Simpson begins providing support services to 10 families in transition at the ZOOM House apartments in south Minneapolis. |
| The 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. | |
| Simpson acquires Passage Community, a 17-unit apartment building providing transitional housing to families. | |
| Simpson begins providing services at Elliot Park apartments, a property housing eight long-term homeless families in need of intensive support. | |
| 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. | |
| The COHR partnership creates an additional team to work with long-term homeless adults using Group Residential Housing (GRH) funds. An additional 52 single adults are placed into housing. | |
| 2009: | Spectrum Community Mental Health, in partnership with Simpson, is awarded a federal grant of $371,294 per year for four years. The award provides supportive housing services for 50 long-term homeless women with mental illness in Hennepin County. |
| Simpson begins serving families at Third Avenue Townhomes in Minneapolis, a permanent supportive housing project for families with a disabled family member. | |
| Simpson receives the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ Award for Excellence in a Large Organization. | |
| 2010: | Simpson hosts the 25th annual Homeless Memorial March and Service. |
| 2012: | The women’s overnight shelter relocates to Simpson United Methodist Church and serves 22 guests each night. |
| Steve Horsfield joins Simpson as the Executive Director and begins to develop a 5-year strategic plan to deepen the impact of Simpson’s services in the community. | |
| 2013: | Simpson receives a grant from the Greater Twin Cities United Way to hire the first Early Childhood Specialist to work with young children, ages 0-5, in our programs. |
| Simpson launches a new partnership with Aeon, serving up to 90 long-term homeless single adults living in Aeon’s Lamoreaux and Continental properties in downtown Minneapolis. | |
| 2015: | Simpson supports an additional 15 long-term homeless families in the Family Housing Program through a new partnership with Sherman Associates at Riverside Plaza apartments in Minneapolis. |
| 2016: | Simpson launches the Middle School Mentoring Program, matching 5th-8th graders with an adult volunteer mentor. |
| The Mentoring and Youth Development Program expands to include K-5th graders with a focus on literacy skills. | |
| 2017: | Hennepin County asks Simpson to oversee the day-to-day operations of Adult Shelter Connect (ASC), a centralized location where single adults in need of emergency shelter may visit for assessment, placement with one of the five Minneapolis shelters, and referrals to other services. |
| Simpson honors its 35th anniversary year. | |
| 2018: | Simpson announces the generous gift of the Simpson United Methodist Church property. |
| Simpson is awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, positioning us to serve 20% more families through housing and resources and almost doubling our capacity to serve children, youth, and families through educational support. | |
| 2019: | Simpson is selected as the shelter operator for the Navigation Center, an innovative community partnership model built to provide safe and dignified temporary shelter for the primarily Native community members who were living outdoors in Minneapolis. |
| Simpson provides leadership and relationship-based support at the Navigation Center from December through June 2019, providing shelter to 176 individuals and helping 74 guests achieve positive housing destinations and treatment programs. | |
| Simpson hosts the 35th annual Homeless Memorial March and Service. | |
| Simpson becomes the official owner of the Simpson United Methodist Church property. | |
| 2020: | Simpson serves 2,046 people and places 1,446 people into housing through its shelter, Single Adult Housing Program, and Family and Youth Housing Program. |
| Simpson announces its Build-Up Campaign and plans for building a modern, dignified shelter and housing facility on the site of Simpson United Methodist Church. The board of directors and staff share their vision to design and execute a modern shelter model that, with dignity and respect for every individual, will serve the needs of community members experiencing homelessness and improve housing placement outcomes. | |
| 2021: | The City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County both contribute $3.5 million in federal funds to the Build-Up Campaign. |
| 2022: | Minnesota Housing Finance Agency contributes $11.1 million to the Build-Up Campaign, which represents 75 percent of the expense for the housing portion of the development. |
| Simpson moves its administrative and program offices to 160 Glenwood Avenue. | |
| 2023: | Shelter operations transition from Simpson United Methodist Church to Zion Lutheran Church. |
| Construction on Simpson Community Shelter & Apartments begins. | |
| 2024: | The agency completes a strategic planning process, resulting in a revised mission statement and core values and the creation of a three-year roadmap for its work. |
| Simpson receives the 2024 Nonprofit Mission Award for Anti-Racism Initiative from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. | |
| Simpson honors the 40th anniversary of the Minnesota Annual Homeless Memorial March and Service. |