I’ve been tracking the explosive growth of small group home/assisted-living facilities, which have been concentrated in the northwestern suburbs of Minneapolis. After a summer hiatus, approvals have roared back at the state Department of Health (MDH).
Over the past three weeks or so, 22 new facilities have been approved by MDH, each with a capacity of 5 or fewer residents. All 22 are located in the metro area, with a total added capacity of 107 beds.
On October 14 alone, some 8 new homes were licensed. During the past three weeks, two larger assisted-living facilities were also licensed, with a combined capacity of 70 beds.
MPR News has been reporting on this taxpayer-funded phenomenon for about a year now and they documented back in March the concentration of group homes in suburban Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, New Hope and Crystal. Six of the 22 newest facilities were licensed in these over-saturated markets. MPR reported,
Brooklyn Park is the epicenter of Minnesota’s group home boom. Some 300 group homes are licensed to operate there, more than any other city in the state, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, the state’s largest cities.
In September, the state Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) published a 76-page report on “Assisted Living Facility Licensing.”