State Officials Praise Duluth for Dedication to Housing Projects

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan discusses funding and housing projects in the Northland.

DULUTH, Minn.- Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan got an up close and personal look at how some of Duluth’s housing projects are helping those who were previously homeless in the area.

Flanagan started her Northland trek with a tour around Lutheran Social Service’s “Center for Changing Lives.”

There she met two of the previously homeless youth living at the center, Mercedes Moore and Joshua Kortes, who shared their stories and reasons as to why the center has helped them raise their family.

“Housing is the base of everyone’s life. I don’t care where you live, or who you live with, as long as you have a home, that one stress button in the back of your head is not blinking 24/7 telling you stress out, worry, because you have that security,” Moore said.

Flanagan declared Duluth a model for what housing projects should look like around the state.

She says she’s doing everything she can to get more funding toward helping the homeless in next year’s legislation.

“My job is to do as much as possible to be sure that more folks have opportunities in the community and have that place where you can lock that door– you can feel safe, you can get some rest, you can open the refrigerator and find food there and take care of yourself for that foundation,” Flanagan said.

Following the conversation and tour of “Center for Changing Lives,” Flanagan toured the Ramsey Center and Garfield Square Apartments and met residents from both places.