Hennepin County used to use these motels as overflow locations for homeless families (usually single women and children)-on some nights, they would literally rent out every room at both motels. The county paid the card rate for the rooms. If I remember correctly, one motel was $66 per night and
the other was $71 per night. Just for the sake of an argument, let's say the rate was $60 per night (for a one room motel unit with a bath). Multiply that by 30 nights per month. The County was paying the motel owners the equivalent of $1800 per unit per month. At a neighborhood meeting, I
asked Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman why the county didn't just buy up some $180,000 single family homes and use those instead. I just plugged these numbers into an amortization calculator: 20 year loan at 8% on $215,197.73 mortgage has a monthly payment of $1800.00. A $180,000 home with taxes and insurance would be about $1800 per month. This compares a 2-3 bedroom house with kitchen, living room, dining room, basement, laundry facility, garage and yard with a one-room motel with bath. And this for sometimes up to 4-5 occupants. Neighbors across the alley on Garfield used to complain in the winter time about food that was sitting on the window ledges to keep cold because there were no refigerators in the rooms. No cooking facility so some tenants were cooking with a hot plate. Washing the dishes in the bathroom sink. In the final analysis, it would be cheaper to buy than to rent.
I am not suggesting that we buy homes and give them to homeless people.
The point that I am trying to make is that the government doesn't really care how they spend the money as long as they get to spend it, even though what I was suggesting may sound like a ridiculous idea was in fact more economically prudent than current practices.
Ron Lischeid
Windom
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