St. Cloud City Council Set to Consider Changing Ordinances Governing Homeless Shelters

(KNSI) – The new St. Cloud City Council will not waste any time in tackling hot-button issues Monday night.

Just minutes after being sworn in, the group will hold public hearings on potential changes to ordinances governing how homeless shelters can operate. One of the hearings concerns the 2007 Land Development Code, which has a provision on the maximum amount of time someone can stay at a shelter. Right now, it is 45 days, with 10% eligible to be extended to 90 days. The new proposal would allow for someone to stay for 180 days, or six months, with 50% of residents potentially qualifying for an extension lasting for up to 90 more days.

The restrictions also apply to domestic shelters. Anna Marie’s Alliance Executive Director Charles Hempeck told KNSI News in December, when the St. Cloud Planning Commission was deliberating on the issue, that his organization is the only one in the state of Minnesota with a length-of-stay restriction imposed on it.

Homeless Helping Homeless first brought up changing the ordinance as part of a sweeping proposal it took before the Zoning Board of Appeals in late 2024. Many of its requests were denied. A second public hearing on Monday will allow the east side shelter to appeal. It wants to operate with a lower staff-to-resident ratio, open up a day center in the west bay that could be turned into an overnight shelter during extreme weather, and to allow outdoor camping, plus give the okay for homeless to sleep inside their cars on-site overnight.

The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. inside council chambers at city hall.

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