Sentencing to Service to start fourth Century Home
Two local programs are working together to provide new homes in Minneapolis and the opportunity for a brighter future for the men and women who are building the homes. Participants in Hennepin County's Sentencing to Service (STS) Program recently built their third Century Home in Minneapolis and are set to start work on more.
Hennepin County’s successful STS Program was developed in 1993 to enable offenders to compensate victims and give something back to the community. The program involves many partnerships with local agencies that provide funding and, in return, are guaranteed work crews. Juvenile and adult offenders perform a variety of community services, including property maintenance and construction.
In 2000, the STS Program expanded to include the Sentencing to Service Homes Program, which provides classroom instruction in the building trades and on-the-job training rehabilitating houses.
Minneapolis Century Homes program, a partnership between the City of Minneapolis and the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) since 1994, provides new single-family homes on city owned vacant lots. The City sells the vacant lots to GMHC and, when development costs exceed sales prices, provides half of the gap financing to develop the property. GMHC provides the other half of the gap financing, develops the property and sells the homes to new owner occupants.
In 2005, the Century Homes program and the STS Homes Program began working together. Screened STS Home Program participants, from minimum-security facilities, work eight hours a day, seven days a week, under a general contractor to construct the Minneapolis homes. Once they have completed their sentence and graduate from the STS Home Program, participants are offered union apprenticeship carpentry positions.
Published Jan. 11, 2006