“Shame On You” Shouted as Planning Commission Approves Elm Ridge Apartments

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud Planning Commission has unanimously recommended approval of a 40-unit permanent supportive housing complex on 25th Avenue North, despite continued opposition from some neighbors.

Commissioners voted 6-0 on Tuesday to amend the St. Anthony Catholic Church Planned Unit Development to allow Duluth-based Center City Housing to build the three-story Elm Ridge Apartments at 55 25th Avenue North, behind Walgreens and across the street from Central Minnesota Montessori School. As the vote was announced, several people in the audience told the commission, “Shame on you.”

The public hearing closed at the April 14th meeting and was not reopened on Tuesday. Commissioners had postponed action last month after 19 neighbors spoke against the project, asking staff and Center City Housing for more information before making a recommendation.

Center City Housing Executive Director Nancy Cashman says she felt good walking out of the meeting after hearing strong opposition from neighbors at the April meeting. “I’m feeling great because there’s been a lot of discussion about how bad this project could be in the neighborhood, and I think it was wonderful to hear that people were understanding that we are an asset in a community.”

The complex would serve extremely low-income people who have experienced homelessness or who are living with mental health conditions, chemical dependency, or other disabilities. Cashman addressed neighbor concerns about safety in a letter to the city and again after the vote. “We are safety oriented. We have a desk, and you need to be let into the building. We have cameras everywhere. So we have control of who’s visiting, who’s not visiting and who’s where.”

Cashman says applicants go through a background check and sign a lease, and that the organization rejects applications for convictions including homicide, arson, criminal sexual conduct, assault, child pornography, and illegal manufacture or distribution of controlled substances. Anyone currently subject to sex offender registration is disqualified.

She also addressed the proximity of the Montessori school, whose executive director spoke against the project in April, pointing to a Center City Housing property in Rochester that sits about 30 feet from a Head Start program.

A St. Cloud Police Department review of calls for service at 78 multi-family properties with 30 to 49 units found Center City Housing’s River Heights property in St. Cloud had the most calls in 2025 at 77 total, though Cashman has said many of those were tied to a single resident who has since been evicted.

Since the April meeting, the city received 13 letters in support of the project, many from the church or the Diocese of St. Cloud, and four letters in opposition.

The project now moves to the St. Cloud City Council for a second public hearing and a binding vote, likely at one of its June meetings.

It is Center City Housing’s second attempt to build the Elm Ridge Apartments in St. Cloud. The organization received council approval in June 2025 for the complex at 1530 Northway Drive, on the site of the former St. Cloud Area Family YMCA, but that project was scrapped in January 2026 after a state grant fell through. This new project is also dependent on grant funding, with Cashman saying the organization expects to learn about its applications in August and December.

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