Fond du Lac Band opens accessible elder homes in Cloquet
Fond du Lac opened 18 accessible elder apartments in Cloquet, a $7.5 million effort to keep tribal elders close to family, culture and care.
The Fond du Lac Band opened 18 accessible elder apartments on Belich Street in Cloquet on Thursday, giving tribal elders a place to age near family, culture and services instead of leaving the community for care elsewhere. The grand opening and ribbon cutting for the Cloquet District Elder Homes, also called Bapashkominitigong Chi aya’aawigamig, drew leaders to 8200 Belich Street on Fond du Lac reservation land.
The new homes address a long-running housing gap. Planning for an updated elder building began in 2018 after years of use at an older facility that had housed about 115 elders since 1987. More than half of the Fond du Lac Band’s enrolled members live off the reservation, and prior housing needs forced some tribal members to seek assisted living outside the community. Band leaders have framed the project as a way to keep elders closer to home and preserve the daily support of relatives, friends and tribal services.
The single-story, 15,746-square-foot complex includes 18 one-bedroom apartments with individual entrances and patios. It was built with accessibility in mind, including ADA-compliant design, wide clearances for wheelchairs and heated sidewalks for winter access. Fond du Lac Human Services materials describe assisted-living apartments with wheelchair-accessible showers, thermostats, microwaves, mini-refrigerators and call devices, features meant to make daily life safer and more independent.
The project cost nearly $7.5 million and was funded through the Indian Housing Block Grant Program, showing how federal housing dollars still matter in building specialized tribal housing in the Northland. The Fond du Lac Housing Division says its mission is to provide decent, safe, sanitary housing and support services for community members, and Chairman Bruce Savage has cast elder housing as a cultural responsibility because elders are knowledge keepers.
For families who have watched older relatives move farther away to find suitable housing, the new apartments change the equation immediately. The Band now has a place in Cloquet where elders can stay rooted in the community, with housing designed around dignity, access and connection instead of compromise.
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