St. Cloud City Council Holds Public Hearing on Proposed Homeless Shelter Funding

(KNSI) – On Monday, a public hearing is set to gauge support for a new homeless shelter and funding from St. Cloud’s Community Development Block Grants.

The city council will take comment on a proposal to give Avivo Village $750,000 of statewide affordable housing aid funds from the federal government. The money would help bring a planned $9,000,000 low-barrier homeless shelter to life.

The building would be constructed near St. Cloud Financial Credit Union and Brigitte’s Café off 1st Street South. The council will also take public comment before voting whether to approve a lease for the one-acre parcel of land at a rate of $39,000 a year. The planning commission denied funding for the design earlier this month, so city staff recommended using this route to fund the 50-unit project.

The city has received three letters from residents against, and six letters of support. The emails asking the city to proceed with the project are from the Diocese of St. Cloud, Operation Outreach, Avivo, Lutheran Social Services, The Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District, and just one from a resident.

In a separate motion on March 11th, the city council approved handing over $232,000 in unused CDBG dollars to Avivo. The money was left over from 2022 and 2023 and comes from other projects that were approved but never came to be.

At Monday night’s meeting, the council will also look to dole out $550,000 in CDBG funding for other projects in 2024, but not the shelter. The planning commission recommended assistance for 12 area organizations earlier this month. Most deal with homelessness in St. Cloud.

Mayor Dave Kleis invites everyone to let the council know how they feel about the issues. “Public hearings are important. It’s your opportunity to weigh in. Decisions are not made ahead of time. They’re made through a process where we get your input.”

Kleis spoke about the public hearing process during his weekly address. He wants people to give their input in whatever way makes them comfortable. “You can correspond with the council members. They make the decisions on these issues and they make the decisions based on the input that you give, whether you’re there in person or whether you’re doing it through email or phone calls. I know they welcome that.”

The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. at St. Cloud City Hall.

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