For the love of the neighborhood
Council Member Aisha Chughtai visits Simpson’s emergency shelter
Aisha Chughtai is a busy person. She represents Ward 10 on the Minneapolis City Council – as she has been since November, when she became the first Muslim woman and the youngest person ever to attain a seat on the council.
But nonetheless, she still made time to serve lunch at Simpson’s emergency shelter. As it happens, she and Simpson are basically neighbors. She lives just two blocks away, in that same little piece of Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood.
“This little block, this corner… is one of the last places where people I recognize still live here and can still afford to be here,” she says.
Aisha originally moved to Ward 10 because it was one of the last places in the city with affordable housing. She, like about 80 percent of the ward’s residents, is a renter, and she’s worked with organizations like Inquilinxs Unidxs, a nonprofit working to protect the rights of tenants, to keep that housing affordable and hold onto her neighbors.
She’s frank about the fact that she and her family have struggled with housing insecurity her entire life. Her parents were Pakistani immigrants with blue collar jobs and four children to raise. In the first few years of her life, she did not have a home at all.
“[The period] since starting this job has been the most housing secure I have ever been, and my family has ever been,” she says.
That’s why serving a meal at the shelter was important to her. Simpson’s shelter’s been operating in Whittier for the past 40 years, ever since the congregation of Simpson United Methodist Church opened its doors to neighbors sleeping on the steps. Occasionally, former shelter guests will return to enjoy meals at the shelter even after finding stable housing… not just because a free hot meal every once in a while can make that transition easier, but because there are friendships and community bonds to return to.
That’s one of the reasons why Simpson has chosen to rebuild the shelter and add 42 units of affordable housing on the same site. The building is over 100 years old and was never designed to be a shelter, but it was important to continue the legacy of the church and stay in the neighborhood.
“Our office has worked closely with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to secure federal funds for this project,” Aisha says. “We’re excited for it to come to fruition and for the impact it will have on our neighborhood.”
After taking a look around and meeting some of the staff and shelter guests, Aisha and her policy aide, LyLy Vang-Yang, washed up, put on some gloves, and got down to serving a delicious lunch from Provision – one of the local eateries that has been graciously supporting Simpson’s meals since the shelter transitioned to 24-7 operations in 2020. The mood was chipper; it’s hard not to be optimistic and energized around good food. But the focus remained steadily on what more could be done to serve the community.
“I really care that people are treated with the care and dignity and love they deserve,” Aisha says, “Regardless of their circumstances, or the experiences that bring them to the unique situations they’re in. And I know that our city and our systems don’t do that with people right now.”
Both she and Simpson, she says, “want to see something different.” And with Simpson among those on the front lines and her upstream in prevention and policy, hopefully both can achieve something better for the neighborhood we love.
Learn more about Simpson’s plan to rebuild the shelter and add more affordable housing.
Want to support Simpson’s shelter rebuild and affordable housing campaign? Learn what you can do to help.
Learn more about Council Member Chughtai, her priorities, and her story.
Interested in serving a meal at the shelter? It’s easy and fun! Learn how.