How to Get Help

• You must be at least 18 years old in order to stay at Stepping Stone 
• For assistance with youth shelter, please contact YMCA Youth Intervention Services (https://www.streetworksmn.org/) at 763-493-3052 or Hope4Youth (https://www.hope4youthmn.org/) at 763-323-2066.
• If you are a family who needs shelter, please contact Family Promise of Anoka County (http://www.familypromiseanoka.org/) at 763-568-7365 or Safe Families for Children (www.Minneapolis-StPaul.Safe-Families.org) at 651-792-2777.

Call us at 763-323-7006 as soon as you know you need shelter. We are always at capacity and have a waitlist. Please review our requirements listed above to make sure you are eligible to stay at Stepping Stone. In order to be put on the waitlist, we need your full legal name and birthdate, as well as a reliable way to contact you.

Time on the waitlist generally varies from one day to potentially two months. Your place on the waitlist can change due to the following circumstances:

1. Current residents need to stay longer than expected.
2. Young adults (ages 18-24) and veterans receive priority on the waitlist.
3. More individuals referred for emergency shelter by the police, hospital, and Hope4Youth.

When you are added to the waitlist, make sure that you give our staff a very reliable phone number that we can use to reach you. If this number changes, please call us right away. If you don’t have a reliable phone number, you may call Stepping Stone daily to track your place on the waitlist.

Our waitlist typically ranges around 150-250 people.

You may contact our Intake Coordinator anytime at 763-277-8308 to confirm your waitlist placement. Please know that your placement can change daily. It depends on how many young adults (ages 18-24) and veterans need shelter (they go to the top of the list), the number of one-night bed referrals we receive from the police, hospitals, and Hope4Youth, and how easily we are able to contact those ahead of you on the list.

The important thing is that we have a really good phone number we can use to contact you. If that number changes at any time while you are on the waitlist, please call 763-277-8308.

Once a resident has completed our 90-day program, the opportunity for financial assistance to help with rent, down payment, utilities, damage deposit, etc. may be available. That’s something individual residents should discuss with their case manager.

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide shelter to any walk-ins. In order to stay at Stepping Stone, you must call 763-323-7006 and get added to our waitlist.

Stepping Stone is designed to provide shelter for 90 days. However, you can stay for one night, one week, or with approval, extend your stay past 90 days.

No. Stepping Stone is a 24/7 shelter, that means you are not required to leave during the day. However, you are expected to be productive and work towards ending your homelessness. This means that you will have to show progress in your Individual Goal Plan, success in making and attending various appointments, and completing your daily assigned work training.

While staying at Stepping Stone, you will be expected to complete your assigned work training, meet with your case manager, and treat staff, other residents, and volunteers with respect. You will also be expected to work through our Program Elements, which are designed to assist you in ending your homelessness. These, and other aspects of daily life and expectations at Stepping Stone, will be explained during your intake meeting with your case manager. Failure to do these things may result in being asked to leave Stepping Stone.

Stepping Stone has two wings, one for men and one for women. Each wing has two pods consisting of three bedrooms apiece. The bedrooms include four bunkbeds (eight beds), with the exception of one of the women’s bedrooms, which has only two bunkbeds (four beds.). Each pod has access to two full baths which are shared among the residents in that pod.

No, we do not administer medications. Only over-the-counter and personal prescription medications are allowed at Stepping Stone. You will be given a personal locker to store your prescription medications. You are responsible for providing a lock for your locker, keeping it locked at all times, and not sharing the key/combination with anyone, including staff.

Stepping Stone strives to remove as many barriers as possible; however, there are certain actions that are strictly forbidden. These include, but are not limited to:

1. Any type of verbal aggression, hate speech, or attempts at physical harm.
2. Possession, use, sale, or storage of a weapon, firearm, or fireworks on property or campus.
3. Possession, use, sale, or storage of alcohol, illegal drugs, non-prescribed medication, inhalants or drug paraphernalia.
4. Theft or destruction of another resident’s, staff’s, volunteer’s personal or Stepping Stone’s property.
5. Entering the room of another resident.
6. Sexual harassment of another resident, employee, or volunteer.

No, we do not have vouchers. And no, we cannot get them for you.

No, we do not find housing for our residents. However, we provide resources that support residents conducting their own search for housing.