1 Year Ago, Drake Hotel Went Up In Flames On Christmas Day

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Friday marks one year since a Christmas Day tragedy -- a massive fire left 250 Minnesotans without a home.

Flames destroyed the Francis Drake Hotel in Minneapolis on Christmas Day in 2019.

Some families rented rooms there and others were staying there because homeless shelters were too full.

The county says it found stable housing for almost all of the people who were living in the hotel.

There are more than 70,000 households in Hennepin County that have extremely-low incomes, but there are only 14,000 affordable units available. It's an even bigger challenge in a year of a pandemic.

Fire investigators determined the fire originated from a unit in the complex, but did not determine an exact cause.