That distinction is important because homelessness is not simply the absence of a roof.
People experiencing long periods without stable housing may also be dealing with unemployment, health conditions, trauma, family separation, substance-use disorders, mental-health challenges or the loss of identification and other documents.
Trying to address those problems while simultaneously worrying about where to sleep each night can make progress extraordinarily difficult.
A shelter cannot instantly resolve all of those issues.
What it can potentially provide is a stable starting point.
A Low-Barrier Approach
Avivo Village operates as what is commonly described as a low-barrier shelter.
The idea is to reduce obstacles that might otherwise prevent someone experiencing unsheltered homelessness from entering shelter.
The program also incorporates Housing First and harm-reduction principles.
Housing First approaches generally begin from the premise that people should not have to solve every other problem in their lives before they can become eligible for housing.
Stable housing is instead treated as a foundation from which other challenges can be addressed.
At Avivo Village, staff members work with residents to identify what they need and what their next steps might be.
Those needs can differ dramatically from one resident to another.
One person might need assistance obtaining identification documents.
Another might need mental-health treatment.
Someone else might be trying to reconnect with employment.
Another resident might need treatment for a substance-use disorder.
Others may primarily need help navigating housing applications and complicated public-assistance systems.
The program attempts to bring many of those services into the same environment.
More Than a Place to Sleep
This is one of the most important aspects of Avivo Village.
The 100 individual shelters attract much of the attention because they are visually unusual.
But the physical structures are only part of the program.
Avivo says residents can connect with services including case management, substance-use disorder treatment, mental-health therapy, medical care, employment assistance and housing support.
Staff and security are present around the clock.
This creates an environment in which someone does not necessarily have to travel across the city to begin addressing every challenge.
Imagine the difficulty of scheduling and attending multiple appointments when you do not know where you will sleep that night.
Even basic tasks can become complicated.
Where do you safely store documents?
How do you keep a phone charged?
How do you maintain communication with a potential employer or housing provider?
How do you recover from an illness when you are living outdoors?
How do you attend regular appointments while constantly searching for food, transportation and a safe place to sleep?
A stable shelter does not automatically eliminate those obstacles.
But it can reduce some of the chaos surrounding them.
That is the broader idea behind combining shelter and supportive services.
The Goal Is Permanent Housing
Despite the name “Village,” Avivo Village is not intended to become a permanent community where residents remain indefinitely.
It is emergency shelter.
The longer-term objective is to help residents transition into permanent housing.