Transportation has to be arranged.
Health problems may require treatment.
Employment or income needs to be addressed.
Furniture, household supplies and deposits can become challenges.
And after someone has spent a long period without stable housing, adjusting to permanent housing can itself require continued support.
This is why wraparound services matter.
A roof protects someone from the weather.
A private room offers security.
But rebuilding stability often requires much more.
A Village Hidden Inside an Ordinary Building
Perhaps the most striking thing about Avivo Village is how simple the central concept appears once it exists.
Take a large indoor space.
Build 100 private dwellings inside it.
Give each resident a secure place of their own.
Keep trained staff available.
Connect residents with health care, treatment, employment services and housing assistance.
Then work toward moving people into permanent homes.
Yet creating that system required collaboration between nonprofit organizations, government agencies, philanthropic groups, service providers and community partners.
It also required recognizing that people experiencing homelessness are not all looking for exactly the same type of shelter.
Some people can successfully use traditional congregate shelters.
Others may respond better to an environment that offers greater privacy and autonomy.
Avivo Village provides one example of what that alternative can look like.
Several years after the first residents entered the building, its tiny structures are still serving their original purpose.
Not as permanent homes.
Not as a replacement for affordable housing.
And not as a magical solution to homelessness.
They are a bridge.
A bridge between an encampment and an apartment.
Between sleeping outside and closing a door.
Between surviving from one day to the next and having enough stability to begin planning for the future.
Inside one Minneapolis warehouse, there are 100 small private spaces.
But the larger idea behind them is much bigger:
Give people safety first. Connect them with support. Then help them find a permanent place to call home.
Sources
Avivo — Avivo Village: Official program information and updated impact statistics through July 2026, including 873 individuals served, 339 people moved into permanent housing, 261 overdose reversals, veteran participation and information about the program's Housing First, harm-reduction and wraparound-service model.
Avivo — Avivo Village FAQ: Information about the project's approximately $8 million original two-year pilot budget and its combination of state, county, city, philanthropic and private funding.
Avivo — “Avivo Village Reaches Significant Milestone: 300 People Housed in Permanent Housing”: June 2025 announcement documenting the program's 300th transition into safe, permanent housing.
City of Minneapolis — Legislative Information Management System: City documentation describing the Indoor Villages model as 100 individual tiny shelters inside a warehouse and recording municipal support for Avivo shelter operations.
Avivo — 2020 Annual Report: Financial and historical information concerning Coronavirus Relief Fund support used to establish Avivo Village.
Statistics in this article reflect the most recent figures publicly reported by Avivo that were available when this article was prepared. Because Avivo Village remains an operating program, totals may continue to change.