Minneapolis, look at this picture. This is Post-1984. This is the hive. Thanks COVID-19 relief bill!

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A first-of-its-kind place to find shelter is nearly ready to open in downtown Minneapolis.

Avivo Village consists of 100 individual, climate-controlled and secure pods, which will provide Minnesotans experiencing homelessness real solutions to permanent housing.

Emily Bastian, vice president of Avivo, walks through the rows of multi-colored homes lining the inside of a warehouse on Washington Avenue in the North Loop.

“This is very exciting. It’s a new model, people have not done this before,” Bastian said. “Everyone deserves housing irregardless of who they are or choices that they make.”

This village is for anyone in the metro experiencing homelessness over the age of 18. Each pod is the exact same size, and they will come furnished with a bed and a chair, with place to hang items, along with a shelf. Each pod will also have a window, but they’ll come with their own drapes for privacy. Vents go into every pod, creating air flow when the doors are closed, and there are communal showers and bathrooms. The pods are also secured with a key lock and code.

“Every door associates with a separate individual room,” Bastian said. “Each pod is the exact same size. They’ll come furnished with a bed and a chair in each in each room, and each pod has a window, but they’ll come with their own drapes for privacy.”

Justin LaBeux is part of Avivo’s street outreach team, helping find people to stay at Avivo Village for as long as they need.

“Just see a lot of folks sleeping in tents, just building fires to stay warm, which can sometimes be a safety issue,” LaBeux said.

That feeling of long-term safety and security, not just overnight, is what makes this shelter unique.

“A lot of folks lose some of their stuff, so they’re constantly in a struggle to either replace a tent or get a new sleeping bag,” LaBeux said.

The end goal is to find people permanent housing, and the team here is providing the resources to get there.

“They’ll be connected with a housing case manager and a mental health professional,” he said. “We also will have community health workers and therapists,” Bastian said.

Avivo Village is planning to open on or near March 8. The project is funded with $2 million in CARES Act money, but is relying on public donations as well.
Source: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/02/18/tiny-house-shelter-avivo-village-set-to-open-in-minneapolis/

Alt Source:
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/breaking-the-news/cares-act-to-fund-indoor-villages-project-to-help-those-experiencing-homelessness/

Of course, this project was paid for in slush funds from the COVID-19 Relief bill (CARES Act) that Trump signed into law.

Minneapolis City Council directed $2 Million dollars from COVID-19 relief money paid to their buddies at Avivo for this ONE new building (“the Indoor Villages project, to be operated by Avivo”).
Mayor Frey even took the floor to support this, at the City Council meeting.

The money was conditioned on Avivo “receiving all necessary zoning and licensing approvals and operating funding necessary to open by December 31, 2020”
Of course that didn’t happen.

The Avivo website (avivomn.org) says “even though Avivo Village is still under construction, we welcomed the first 16 residents on December 30, 2020. Plans are to open fully in March 2021.”

Yes, we’re supposed to believe that they opened to 16 residents on December 30 – and that’s surely not just a lie in order to satisfy the condition that it be ready by end of 2020, of course!
So is it open? Nope.
It’s now a private $2 Million hotel for those 16 people, at least that’s the story.

It’s certainly CLOSED to the public, and very exclusive. Avivo says you can’t even get on a list unless you’re on the VIP list of someone connected (“long-time street outreach clients.”).
In other words it’s a taxpayer-funded private club.