Dakota Woodlands is the only short term housing facility for homeless women and children in Dakota County. Families are able to stay as long as necessary to move from having no homes to new homes of their own.   During this time, residents are provided with services and education which help them address their issues related to homelessness. On average, 89% of the residents move successfully to safe, affordable housing.

The number of families that Dakota Woodlands serves does not significantly change from year to year. At any given time, we shelter 22 families with different backgrounds, cultures, emotional and physical challenges, ages, skills, and strengths. Each family has unique circumstances, needs and issues related to homelessness.

In 2009: 

• We assisted 146 families.
• We sheltered 110 families in our 22 bedrooms and provided supportive and follow-up services for 36 other families throughout the year who didn’t live at our facility. 
• The average family size was 2.1 members. 
• 48% of our residents were White/Caucasian, 28% were Black/African American, 15% multi-racial, 4% Hispanic, 4% American Indian and 1% Asian.
• Similar to last year, 76% of the residents stayed at Dakota Woodlands for more than 30 days (the limit of most shelters). The average length of stay was 61 days.
• We assisted nearly the same number of children (150) in 2009; 53% (79) newborn through preschool aged children, 30% (45) who were 5-12 years old and 17% (26) teenagers. 
• Our residents have experienced so many transitions and lack of stability.  Each year, the vast majority of our residents have lived in their previous residence for a year or less.  (72% in 2008, and most of them had more than three residences in the past five years.
• When they move in, clearly the families don’t have economic security.  Many people have absolutely no income when they move in, but most improve their income by the time they leave.  Many have doubled the amount of income by the time they move to their new homes.