Duluth nonprofit receives opioid settlement money to provide temporary housing for people recently released from prison
Richard Howell is a community construction crew manager for Community Action Duluth and founder of the non-profit Housing for Inmates in Duluth.
Courtesy of Richard Howell
Minnesota counties are responsible for channeling most of the $568 million in opioid settlement money from drug and pharmacy companies into programs. The hope is that the funds will reach people who are struggling with substance use disorder and address a dire need.
Overdose deaths doubled from 2019 to 2020 and they disproportionately affect Black and Native American people in Minnesota.
One organization that has already received settlement dollars is the nonprofit Housing for Inmates, which is based in Duluth.
Founder Richard Howell plans to provide housing and support to formerly incarcerated people. St. Louis County, which includes Duluth as well as more rural communities, has a higher rate of overdose compared to the state as a whole.
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The county is expected to eventually receive more than $17 million in settlement money. It has so far received about $2 million. Housing for Inmates received $300,000 — the largest share in the first round of funding.
In 2021, Howell won the Virginia McKnight Binger Unsung Hero Award for his organizing work. He is now Community Construction Crew Manager for Community Action Duluth and leads recovery groups under a framework he found helpful, called Health Realizations.
Howell joined MPR News senior producer Emily Bright to talk about his own story and his vision for the new housing program.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
Audio transcript
EMILY BRIGHT: I'm Emily Bright. This is Minnesota Now. We've been following Minnesota's efforts to distribute $568 million in opioid settlement money from drug and pharmacy companies. The idea is that this money funds programs that reach people who are struggling with substance use disorder, and the need is dire.
Overdose deaths doubled from 2019 to 2020, and they disproportionately affect Black and Native American people in Minnesota. Today, we're going to zoom in on one organization that is receiving settlement dollars to find out what they are doing to try to help.
St. Louis County, which includes Duluth as well as more rural counties, has a higher rate of overdose compared with the state as a whole. The county is set to eventually receive more than $17 million in settlement money. They already have about $2 million to spend. The organization receiving the largest sum in this first round is called Housing for Inmates. Its goal is to provide housing and support to formerly incarcerated people.
Its founder, Richard Howell, is on the line to tell us more. Hi, Richard.
RICHARD HOWELL: Hi. How are you today?
EMILY BRIGHT: I'm good. How are you?
RICHARD HOWELL: Great. Thank you.
EMILY BRIGHT: You received $300,000 from the county, and you purchased a building. How does it feel to move forward on your plans like that?
RICHARD HOWELL: It's very exhilarating. I feel that I finally have an opportunity to give back, and that's what's phenomenal to me about this.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I want to hear all about your plans for this property. But first, let's back up and talk about your story, because you have direct experience. That's really important here. You moved to Duluth after being released from prison in 2009, right?
RICHARD HOWELL: Well, actually, I was already residing in Duluth when I was incarcerated. But when I was released, I had to finish out my parole and the state of commit, which was Duluth, Minnesota.
And upon my release, I found one of the obstacles of getting adequate housing and a job related to my incarceration of my felony background.
And with that being said, previous to me going to prison, I was a drug dealer and user. And I wanted to do something different this time. I wanted to be accountable for my actions. I wanted to be able to mend the fence that I tore down, literally, in the community.
So I decided-- upon being rejected so many times for a decent job and housing, I came up with the idea of housing for inmates. And I found that a portion of my giving back consisted of being an outspoken advocate for those barriers that people are continuously suffering every day.
EMILY BRIGHT: Moving forward, as you said, you started this nonprofit a few years back to connect people who are released from prison with housing. But you didn't have a building back then, so what were you doing to help?
RICHARD HOWELL: Well, actually, I was doing so well in the community, a gentleman named Peter Edmunds of New Mexico had a fourplex apartment complex that he was trying to get rid of. And he allowed me to build my Housing for Inmates program up out of that building.
And in doing that, I was able to connect with the parole office, SOAR Solutions, here in Duluth, Minnesota, other nonprofit organizations. I had an officer name Mike Erickson on my board of directors at the time who helped me to be able to get into the community. And I advocated for Ban the Box.
After a certain time, after the three years was up, Mr. Edmunds asked, would I purchase the property? Well, of course, I didn't have the resources or the financial backing at the time to accomplish that. So I let the organization go dormant for a moment.
EMILY BRIGHT: OK. And now, will this new money allow you to purchase a new building, or build one, or go back to that same one?
RICHARD HOWELL: No.
EMILY BRIGHT: OK.
RICHARD HOWELL: This is the beauty about this. Catherine Mueller, my grant writer, came up with the idea to apply for this grant. And in doing so-- I have another friend who is a realtor. We went into negotiations on a triplex and purchased that property April the 27th. Right now, we're in remodeling of the property and doing some changes.
EMILY BRIGHT: What's your vision for this housing?
RICHARD HOWELL: I want it to be spectacular. I want it to be a gateway for people to face their challenges and come out with a better perspective than they ever had before their incarceration. I want them to be able to gain insight on relationships, family reunification, responsibility. In true reality, I want to do my best to give them opportunities that they didn't have in the past.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I think that is really beautiful. How many people will be able to house, and how long do you anticipate they'll stay?
RICHARD HOWELL: The house, like I say, is under renovation right now. And we'll be able to, once it's completed, offer six bedrooms, one individual to each room. Because I want them to have their space to grow. And their stay would be 12 months to, hopefully, 14, giving them the extra time to-- if they couldn't get all their ducks in a row by that time, then they'll probably be able to stay a little longer, until they get foundational lives in the community.
EMILY BRIGHT: In addition to setting people up with a room of their own, are there other kinds of resources or help that you want to be sure to connect people with while they're there?
RICHARD HOWELL: Yes. One of the programming is health realization. I know a lot of people that are coming out either have drug addiction, alcoholism, or even some mental health issues. I work with-- well, I collaborate with SOAR for job entry programs. They have a reentry program that's absolutely beautiful. They also offer school trainings.
I work with parole to be able to make sure we have accountability. I work with HTC to be able to help them in finding reasonable housing, adequate housing. I'm trying to get something situated with the county to be able to give them those needs, little financial needs, nothing great, and some medical assistance.
And I want to work with Community Action, as far as, some of them wanting to go into a trade. They have a construction training program there, and they also have a seeds program if people are outdoorsy and want to plant trees, learn all about the trees and keeping the environment clean. So those are just a few that I have in mind for right now.
EMILY BRIGHT: How is this different from a halfway house?
RICHARD HOWELL: Well, a halfway house is offering you one thing. Shelter and get out. And that's not very inspirational. I think that if you want someone to be a productive citizen, they have to have something to gravitate to, to look forward to. And for me to be released and go into a halfway house, all I have to do is be back on time, leave on time. And it's not addressing the issues of each individual.
I want to help a person build a foundation again. Because as you know, leading up to incarceration, I tore down and damaged a lot of bridges and feelings. So when I come out, what do I really have? Nothing. No one trusts me. No one believes in me. I want to be able to bridge that connection again, allow people to be able to reconnect with themselves, to be able to reconnect with the community.
EMILY BRIGHT: So how close are you to being able to open?
RICHARD HOWELL: I feel a couple of months now. Yeah, I said a couple of months. We had to actually get a new roof. And one of the apartments was flagged, and we didn't know why it was flagged until the insurance company stepped in and told us that the electrical panels were not updated.
So we wound up getting another grant in to be able to fix the electrical panels. So we're getting a roof, the electrical panels. And I would give it two or three months.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, Richard, I wish you great success on the opening of your building and on the continued work that you do. Thanks for your time today.
RICHARD HOWELL: No, thank you. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to let people understand that the struggle is real. And a lot of things that we do in life we seldom take accountability for. But still, it doesn't mean we're not good people. We made bad choices. We're not bad people. And sometimes those choices can be rectified and changed and turned over, if given the opportunity.
EMILY BRIGHT: That's a good word from Richard Howell, the founder of the nonprofit Housing for Inmates in Duluth and a community construction crew manager for Community Action Duluth.
Overdose deaths doubled from 2019 to 2020, and they disproportionately affect Black and Native American people in Minnesota. Today, we're going to zoom in on one organization that is receiving settlement dollars to find out what they are doing to try to help.
St. Louis County, which includes Duluth as well as more rural counties, has a higher rate of overdose compared with the state as a whole. The county is set to eventually receive more than $17 million in settlement money. They already have about $2 million to spend. The organization receiving the largest sum in this first round is called Housing for Inmates. Its goal is to provide housing and support to formerly incarcerated people.
Its founder, Richard Howell, is on the line to tell us more. Hi, Richard.
RICHARD HOWELL: Hi. How are you today?
EMILY BRIGHT: I'm good. How are you?
RICHARD HOWELL: Great. Thank you.
EMILY BRIGHT: You received $300,000 from the county, and you purchased a building. How does it feel to move forward on your plans like that?
RICHARD HOWELL: It's very exhilarating. I feel that I finally have an opportunity to give back, and that's what's phenomenal to me about this.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I want to hear all about your plans for this property. But first, let's back up and talk about your story, because you have direct experience. That's really important here. You moved to Duluth after being released from prison in 2009, right?
RICHARD HOWELL: Well, actually, I was already residing in Duluth when I was incarcerated. But when I was released, I had to finish out my parole and the state of commit, which was Duluth, Minnesota.
And upon my release, I found one of the obstacles of getting adequate housing and a job related to my incarceration of my felony background.
And with that being said, previous to me going to prison, I was a drug dealer and user. And I wanted to do something different this time. I wanted to be accountable for my actions. I wanted to be able to mend the fence that I tore down, literally, in the community.
So I decided-- upon being rejected so many times for a decent job and housing, I came up with the idea of housing for inmates. And I found that a portion of my giving back consisted of being an outspoken advocate for those barriers that people are continuously suffering every day.
EMILY BRIGHT: Moving forward, as you said, you started this nonprofit a few years back to connect people who are released from prison with housing. But you didn't have a building back then, so what were you doing to help?
RICHARD HOWELL: Well, actually, I was doing so well in the community, a gentleman named Peter Edmunds of New Mexico had a fourplex apartment complex that he was trying to get rid of. And he allowed me to build my Housing for Inmates program up out of that building.
And in doing that, I was able to connect with the parole office, SOAR Solutions, here in Duluth, Minnesota, other nonprofit organizations. I had an officer name Mike Erickson on my board of directors at the time who helped me to be able to get into the community. And I advocated for Ban the Box.
After a certain time, after the three years was up, Mr. Edmunds asked, would I purchase the property? Well, of course, I didn't have the resources or the financial backing at the time to accomplish that. So I let the organization go dormant for a moment.
EMILY BRIGHT: OK. And now, will this new money allow you to purchase a new building, or build one, or go back to that same one?
RICHARD HOWELL: No.
EMILY BRIGHT: OK.
RICHARD HOWELL: This is the beauty about this. Catherine Mueller, my grant writer, came up with the idea to apply for this grant. And in doing so-- I have another friend who is a realtor. We went into negotiations on a triplex and purchased that property April the 27th. Right now, we're in remodeling of the property and doing some changes.
EMILY BRIGHT: What's your vision for this housing?
RICHARD HOWELL: I want it to be spectacular. I want it to be a gateway for people to face their challenges and come out with a better perspective than they ever had before their incarceration. I want them to be able to gain insight on relationships, family reunification, responsibility. In true reality, I want to do my best to give them opportunities that they didn't have in the past.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I think that is really beautiful. How many people will be able to house, and how long do you anticipate they'll stay?
RICHARD HOWELL: The house, like I say, is under renovation right now. And we'll be able to, once it's completed, offer six bedrooms, one individual to each room. Because I want them to have their space to grow. And their stay would be 12 months to, hopefully, 14, giving them the extra time to-- if they couldn't get all their ducks in a row by that time, then they'll probably be able to stay a little longer, until they get foundational lives in the community.
EMILY BRIGHT: In addition to setting people up with a room of their own, are there other kinds of resources or help that you want to be sure to connect people with while they're there?
RICHARD HOWELL: Yes. One of the programming is health realization. I know a lot of people that are coming out either have drug addiction, alcoholism, or even some mental health issues. I work with-- well, I collaborate with SOAR for job entry programs. They have a reentry program that's absolutely beautiful. They also offer school trainings.
I work with parole to be able to make sure we have accountability. I work with HTC to be able to help them in finding reasonable housing, adequate housing. I'm trying to get something situated with the county to be able to give them those needs, little financial needs, nothing great, and some medical assistance.
And I want to work with Community Action, as far as, some of them wanting to go into a trade. They have a construction training program there, and they also have a seeds program if people are outdoorsy and want to plant trees, learn all about the trees and keeping the environment clean. So those are just a few that I have in mind for right now.
EMILY BRIGHT: How is this different from a halfway house?
RICHARD HOWELL: Well, a halfway house is offering you one thing. Shelter and get out. And that's not very inspirational. I think that if you want someone to be a productive citizen, they have to have something to gravitate to, to look forward to. And for me to be released and go into a halfway house, all I have to do is be back on time, leave on time. And it's not addressing the issues of each individual.
I want to help a person build a foundation again. Because as you know, leading up to incarceration, I tore down and damaged a lot of bridges and feelings. So when I come out, what do I really have? Nothing. No one trusts me. No one believes in me. I want to be able to bridge that connection again, allow people to be able to reconnect with themselves, to be able to reconnect with the community.
EMILY BRIGHT: So how close are you to being able to open?
RICHARD HOWELL: I feel a couple of months now. Yeah, I said a couple of months. We had to actually get a new roof. And one of the apartments was flagged, and we didn't know why it was flagged until the insurance company stepped in and told us that the electrical panels were not updated.
So we wound up getting another grant in to be able to fix the electrical panels. So we're getting a roof, the electrical panels. And I would give it two or three months.
EMILY BRIGHT: Well, Richard, I wish you great success on the opening of your building and on the continued work that you do. Thanks for your time today.
RICHARD HOWELL: No, thank you. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to let people understand that the struggle is real. And a lot of things that we do in life we seldom take accountability for. But still, it doesn't mean we're not good people. We made bad choices. We're not bad people. And sometimes those choices can be rectified and changed and turned over, if given the opportunity.
EMILY BRIGHT: That's a good word from Richard Howell, the founder of the nonprofit Housing for Inmates in Duluth and a community construction crew manager for Community Action Duluth.
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