ST PAUL, Minn. — The City of St. Paul is replacing its Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit (COAST), for a new program called Familiar Faces, beginning in January. 

The COAST Program included social workers who would follow up with individuals who made mental health-related 911 calls. Familiar Faces plans to go beyond the assessment period, building relationships with individuals until they are back on stable ground.

“It is taking the relationship and the interaction beyond service referral,” said Familiar Faces program administrator Chris Michels. “It’s partnering and brokering trust with the individual, so we’re following with them through however many steps it takes to get to that kind of stabilizing place.”

The city says Familiar Faces will be made of individuals that police officers, paramedics or EMTs see so often they become familiar. Many of those individuals are unhoused. With the program, officers will make direct referrals to the Familiar Faces team about potential individuals to whom they should reach out.

According to St. Paul’s Homeless Assistance Response Team (HART), as of Sept. 4, there are 28 active encampment sites in St Paul, with a total of 185 occupants. Seventy-six percent of those occupants are men.

“We’re going to build a relationship; we’re going to build trust; we’re going to know you as an individual and what your challenges are,” said St. Paul Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher. “We want to make sure that we have a clinical team that also knows that person and is working in partnership with our emergency responders to address those needs.”

KARE 11 spoke with Sue Abderholden, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Minnesota, who says she is concerned that the city is ending an effective program in COAST, without being clear about what this new program will look like.

MINNESOTA, USA — Minnesota’s north woods and boundary waters are breathtaking, serene, and remote – a rare place where you can get back to nature. 

But that isolation can be detrimental if something goes wrong, which is where Department of Natural Resources helicopter pilot Grace Zeller comes in.

Her skills were put to the test back in May when Zeller was tasked with saving two canoeists who were badly hurt after their canoe went over a waterfall. 

“My job was to fly the aircraft,” said Zeller. “Everything that happens as a result of that is a benefit.”

She was responding to a call about four people who had gone over Curtain Falls near the Canadian border, including Reis Grams and his friend who, at the time, were still missing. The other two, one of whom was Grams’ brother, were badly hurt.

“I’d say landing remotely in the dark was definitely the most challenging,” said Zeller about the rescue. 

She had to fly from her office in Brainard to the airport in Ely and then another 15 minutes to the scene. The area is surrounded by trees that the helicopter’s rotors had to clear. And if the water level was low enough, landing on rocks was her only option. 

The helicopter weighs about 2,000 pounds. 

“You don’t necessarily need to bring the helicopter all the way out of flight mode, so you’re still hovering, but you’re balanced on something,” said Zeller. “That was a moment I had to take real slow, real careful.”

Zeller made the trip twice to rescue two men, without knowing where the others were. 

“I can’t imagine leaving people still missing,” said Zeller. “I knew that was going to be really hard for the guys.”

She has been flying helicopters for a decade and says she has to stay focused on her job during emotional missions.

“They’re already better off with the helicopter there, so you can’t try to make anything go faster, you can’t try to do anything more than just fly the aircraft,” said Zeller, who was recently recognized for her efforts that day with a lifesaving award from the DNR. 

Grams’ brother has since been recovered and was at the event, along with Reis’ wife. According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Reis’ body was found on June 3 – several weeks after the tragedy. 

“It could have been a lot worse situation and it was already bad enough, but things could have spiraled from there, so we’re very fortunate for the rescue effort, from everyone involved, especially Grace,” said Erik Grams. 

Zeller will also be a guest at an event on September 21st called Girls in Aviation which is designed to introduce young women to aviation. It’s at Flying Cloud Airport and will run from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Jet Lynx private hangar and will offer speakers, exhibitors, educational activities, demonstrations and static displays.

Admission to the event is free, but registration is required. 

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council has approved three new measures they believe will help prevent and respond to homelessness.

Before voting in Thursday’s regular council meeting, council members discussed homelessness at length – all agreeing it’s a problem but disagreeing at times on approach.

“We’ve declared a public health emergency in the city of Minneapolis yet we’re still falling short,” said council member Emily Koski, who represents Ward 11. 

Among the approved measures, the council gave renters relief by unanimously extending the notification period required for evictions from 14 days to 30 days.

With a veto-proof majority, the council also approved a measure mandating the city to report the cost and effectiveness of clearing out homeless encampments.

And, in a 10 to 3 vote, the council allocated a $1.5 million grant using contingency funds to Agate Housing and Services.

The money is to help fix up one of its downtown shelters after the nonprofit last month announced it would need to permanently close the site because conditions were unsafe but too expensive to rehab.  The facility, at 510 South 8th St, offers a 42-bed shelter program and a 95-bed board and lodge program.

During the meeting, Ward 4 council member Latrisha Vetaw said she wants the city to help Agate but questioned the timing.

“This decision was made swiftly,” Vetaw said. “I also don’t see this as an emergency. I think we have time. This is a construction project.”

Council member Aurin Chowdhury, Ward 12, addressed concerns raised over the grant’s impact on various city departments’ budgets.

“While we’re taking from a projected surplus, this isn’t eliminating the entire surplus,” Chowdhury said. “There’s still projected surplus within these departments.”

The grant is contingent upon Agate securing at least $1.5 million in matching funds by the end of next year. A spokesperson sent a statement in response, telling KARE 11 they are thrilled about the vote.

“We are thrilled about and grateful for the City Council’s vote today. Ten Councilmembers stepped up to save the 510 building and its housing. Our next steps are to find the matching funds required by the City’s gift and get an updated and thorough assessment of the building’s needs. We don’t have all the answers yet, and cannot say with certainty that the building will reopen, but we’re much closer to that happy result.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Jacob Frey expressed frustration with council members who have been bashing his response to what many are calling a crisis.

“Several City Council members are trying to prevent the closure of encampments through advocacy, activism, and soon-to-come policy changes,” Frey wrote in a statement released Wednesday following two murders and a shooting at three encampments. “This is irresponsible.”

In a council-led press conference following the regular meeting, council vice president Aisha Chughtai said the amount of unsheltered people has only increased under the Frey Administration.

“Six years ago, Mayor Frey promised to end homelessness,” Chughtai said. “The Frey Administration says no to every solution that we are proposing.”

The mayor sent a new statement Thursday, telling KARE 11 that Chughtai’s increased homelessness claim is untrue, as “unsheltered homelessness is down 24% in Hennepin County.” He also emphasized the dangers of encampments, pointing out his directive to have city staff expedite closures.

“The ordinance passed by Council includes a majority of items the City is already doing. What it doesn’t do is address the fact that encampments are dangerous and inhumane. While the Council is focused on procedural tweaks and making it harder to close encampments, my administration is focused on expanding access to shelter, combating the fentanyl epidemic, and continuing our nation-leading affordable housing work,” said Frey.