Agate Housing and Services welcomed additional residents back to Metro Inn on Feb. 2 after a four-alarm fire damaged 15 of its 38 housing units in October 2024. Metro Inn provides low-rent housing to people who have experienced homelessness.
Agate has been operating 23 of its single-occupancy rooms at Metro Inn that were untouched by a fire that started in a neighboring garage just feet from Metro Inn housing on the night of Oct. 9, 2024.
Rent at the Metro Inn is $470. The cost of fixing damages after the fire was $900,000, which was covered by insurance.
Video from the morning after the fire shows extensive damage at the Metro Inn and the neighboring apartment building. The apartment building at 5619 and 5621 Lyndale Ave. S is registered as a low income apartment building and has not been repaired since the fire. According to the City of Minneapolis, the building is condemned and on the City's Vacant Building Registry.
“City teams are talking with the property owner, who we know is also working with contractors to restore the property,” Jess Olstead with the city told Southwest Voices. The property is owned by Ken Johnson Properties LLC.
“We totally understand that it is a complete eyesore and a nuisance to that neighborhood,” Brett Johnson, representing his father’s LCC, said. “Trust me, nobody wants to wrap up this project more than us.
After a site visit with the building’s insurance company on Feb. 5, Johnson said he’d have a clearer timeline for the property within a month.
Due to the outpouring of community support after the fire, Agate was able to assist the people living at the Johnson property.
“Those residents were affected too,” Agate Housing and Services Vice President of External Relations Virginia Brown said. “The philanthropy we got, we also supported, rehomed some of those folks.”
Assistance included immediate cash, security deposits, and first month’s rent.
Agate’s property downtown was full at the time of the fire so the organization placed their residents elsewhere in the community.
“We were able to do that for all of our people,” Brown said.
Continued support for Metro Inn residents
When Agate first took over Metro Inn, the surrounding neighborhood was “really warm and welcoming,” according to Agate’s Community Organizer and Donation Manager Abby Abele.
Hennepin County bought six motels between 2020 and 2022 specifically for single room occupancy during the pandemic. The Hennepin County Board allocated $1.1 million to rehab the Metro Inn motel. The motel was initially used for housing people that were at high-risk for health complications during the pandemic.
“Some neighborhoods can be really hesitant about having people come through,” Abele said. The Metro Inn was also in the “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a guide for Black motorists to find safe places to stay across the country.
When Metro Inn and the apartment building caught on fire, the community support did not waver.
“In the history of just Agate, we've had more than one fire,” Abele said. “In my career, this is the most impressive turnout, because literally overnight, we had people immediately interested in, ‘What can I bring? What can I do?’ And it sustained.”
Washburn Library and Richfield Methodist Church were the primary community hubs that collected donations for people impacted by the 2024 fire.
“I think it's a really good example of how quickly we can mobilize,” Abele said. “And ideally, I would love it if that kind of energy would be happening for every crisis and for the issue of homelessness.”
The community support did not stop after the fire crisis. At an open house celebrating the reopening of Metro Inn on Jan. 21, community members donated enough laundry detergent for every resident's apartment, plus extra.
Simpson Housing also reopens in Southwest Minneapolis
Simpson Housing Services celebrated the opening of its new shelter and apartments at 2740 1st Ave. S., the site of the former Simpson United Methodist Church on Jan. 10. The church was razed in 2023 to develop the new building. Simpson Housing is looking for volunteers to serve meals and encourage small groups to sign up. Children over the age of 10 are also invited to volunteer with one adult volunteering per child.
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