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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, March 6,2023 <br /> Page 4 <br /> Ms. Valerie Roy explained she is fifty-three and is staying at the first unit at <br /> Prince of Peace Sacred Settlement. She indicated she has lived half of her <br /> life in vans, cars and school buses. She has done everything to live right. <br /> She explained she is sober, has never been convicted of a crime, and never <br /> has had an eviction or faced foreclosure. But, unfortunately, that did not <br /> save her from being episodically short-term homeless between the ages of <br /> twelve to twenty-five and until now, eleven years long-term homeless. She <br /> now lives in a beautiful tiny home at Prince of Peace Church and has access <br /> to the church which she can use as an extension of her tiny home. She has <br /> good neighbors and for the first time in eleven years she has a community <br /> around her, supported by this community she has had many more opportuni- <br /> ties to network, to make friends and to heal from trauma. This tiny house <br /> opportunity has been life changing. She thanked the City Council for helping <br /> to find solutions for chronic homelessness, especially since she would have <br /> faced another Minnesota winter in a van. She can only get better from here <br /> and her quality of life is on the rise and she has Roseville, Minnesota to <br /> thank. She explained if the Roseville Police Department and Cari McCollor <br /> had not intervened and sent her to Prince of Peace, none of this would have <br /> changed for her and she is so very grateful. She was glad the Council was <br /> interested in this model and is a big step up from the nasty shelters and she <br /> has seen her share. Starting with the American Red Cross, three times she <br /> has survived natural disasters in three different parts of the Country. She <br /> thought she would die in the old Dorothy Day Shelters. When she arrived <br /> there, there was a bed lottery. This tiny house model is being considered all <br /> over the Country and she was glad that Roseville is interested in deeply af- <br /> fordable housing solutions. It has made a big difference in her life to live in <br /> a stable home again. She hoped that in the future this can make the same <br /> changes for many others. <br /> Mr. Michael Stetzler, Congregational President, expanded on a few points <br /> made by Pastor Christ. He indicated he would like the City Council to <br /> broaden their thinking regarding this. Instead of narrowly focusing on two <br /> micro-units as described, he encouraged the Council to think about what <br /> Prince of Peace is doing as a community, not just two structures that do not <br /> meet certain codes. He explained the congregation did not set out to develop <br /> a Community First Settlement,they just came to church Sunday after Sunday <br /> this past summer and grew to be friends with Valerie. Even before the issue <br /> of tiny homes came up,they had already begun,without consciously thinking <br /> about it,to develop a community first model. Prince of Peace was not trying <br /> to implement a specific model, it just happened as they practiced their faith. <br /> The congregation learned about the challenges of homelessness and got a <br /> spark of community in the church that they did not have before. This helped <br /> the church grow as well as Valerie. At the end of the summer several things <br /> happened almost simultaneously,Valerie had moved from her bus to her van <br /> and at about the same time the congregation learned about the community <br />