What is a Sacred Settlement?

A Sacred Settlement for the homeless is a community of small, dignified homes designed to provide shelter, stability, and support for individuals experiencing homelessness. These settlements are often faith-based, fostering a sense of belonging, purpose, and holistic care through shared resources and communal living.

Are you opposed to the homeless?

Absolutely not! We all agree that there needs to be solutions to helping the homeless throughout the State of Minnesota. We are opposed to opening an unregulated permanent Sacred Settlement with minimal rights from the city and neighbors and inadequate planning by the organizers. There is little that can be done once the settlement is in place if things go wrong and the settlement isn’t a success. This is one of our main concerns with the current proposal. The Church is only accountable to themselves once the settlement is in place.

We oppose planting a permanent settlement in an outer ring suburb without the capacity to provide support or services to the individuals. We are also concerned that there is no expectation of changed lives or preparation to re-enter society as a fully productive member.

Have you tried working directly with Church of the Open Door?

We have directly engaged the leaders at Church of the Open Door during community meetings they invited us to and other venues outside of those wider meetings. We have not received adequate responses or plans addressing our concerns.

Does Maple Grove currently have a need for a Sacred Settlement or Homeless Shelter?

Maple Grove currently has about 35 people who are identified as Homeless, as reported by the city. This is a minimal number when compared to the population size of Maple Grove. We believe all of our neighbors deserve the dignity of a home, which is why we are advocating for more community input on how to solve this problem. If a Sacred Settlement is the answer, we want it to be successful for both our neighbors and the future residents.

Will residents have to be drug/alcohol free while living in the Settlement?

Church of the Open Door has stated that residents will not be required to maintain a drug for alcohol free lifestyle while living at the Settlement. We are concerned that this is an enabling model allowing individuals who may be experiencing mental health or substance use issues to continue the path that led them to homelessness. This is a concern for safety.

We would rather see an empowering model that gives resources and incentives to graduate from the program and restricts drug/alcohol use while on site. Additionally, we have not seen any models that indicate that tolerating drug and alcohol addiction is beneficial in helping those struggling with addiction.

But Church of the Open Door has stated that people do not need to have a mental illness or substance use disorder to live in the settlement, right?

Church of the Open Door has told us that they currently plan to have 1/3 of the tiny homes built to be occupied by “intentional neighbors”. This is the minimum amount required by the Sacred Settlement bill. The Church has the ability to expand beyond 12 tiny homes in the future if they choose to.

Was the City of Maple Grove consulted on this?

The Sacred Settlement Law allows for this to move forward without approval from the City Council or the community. At a December 2024 City Council meeting, several neighbors with this organization and some apart from us shared their concerns with the Sacred Settlement. The city informed us that at this time, there is nothing they can do and any change would have to come from a legislative change.

An informational meeting was held in November 2024 to a small group of neighbors who received flyers. Key stakeholders from the city, state and local schools were not involved with the ideation or process of this Sacred Settlement. This is a concern for safety – schools nearby and on site at the church will potentially have people with active addiction and mental health issues onsite.

Do Residents of the Settlement have an employment requirement?

Church of the Open Door has stated there is no requirement for employment to reside in the settlement. The only requirement is paying a modest rent of $200 and being active in the community. Panhandling is said to be restricted, but there are no specific details available at this time about the area this applies to or how this restriction will be managed.