Center City Housing (Empowerment Center/Gage East Apartments)

Center City Housing develops, owns and manages affordable housing properties for those most in need. But in truth, we’re here to help people move on with their lives. With our support, people in Duluth and around Minnesota are able to find access to stable housing and affordable rent. But we do more than put a roof over their heads, we link them to services that will help them find stability in life.

We are:

• Developers of affordable housing based on community needs
• Consultants with communities concerned about homelessness
• Partners with people who support sustainable housing
• Servants of the homeless and those in transition

We provide:

• Access to affordable, quality housing for individuals and families
• Housing for families in transition
• Stability for those suffering chronic alcoholism
• Case manager support
• Assistance with and access to community resources, such as:
  • Finding and keeping a job
  • Applying for social security
  • Taking care of taxes, insurance and other paperwork
  • Goal setting
  • Advocacy and referral
  • Transportation assistance
  • Turning temporary housing into permanent placement

The Empowerment Center is a collaborative project where multiple agencies with shared goals and values will co-locate to provide programming for low income and homeless families and youth at the old Gage East Elementary School. The focus of programming will be early childhood and school age youth development, education, job training, and mental/physical health support. The Empowerment Center won’t duplicate services already provided in the Rochester community, but will make services more accessible to a larger population in a neighborhood with great need. Focusing on the most vulnerable, the children, our goal is to grow healthy children into healthy adults who will be be ready to work and live in our community. We realize transportation can also be difficult in Rochester and the center will simplify access to needed programming for families and youth, making it easier and more convenient to receive the services needed to break the cycle of homelessness.

The Gage East Apartments provide permanent supportive housing for 30 homeless families and 25 youth ages 16 – 21. Opened in fall 2016, the Gage East Apartments help some of the more than 200-300 homeless families and 60 – 100 unaccompanied homeless youth find a place they can call home.