Minneapolis council members to introduce homeless encampment response ordinances

The day after an explosion-filled fire destroyed a large homeless camp, two Minneapolis City Council members said they want to reshape the way the city handles encampments with new ordinances, one of which would allow regulated encampments.

Flanked by several advocacy groups and service providers, Council Member Jason Chavez and Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai discussed the ordinances at a Friday news conference. They said they don’t have faith in the city’s current strategy and that it needs to be more humane.

“There are encampments all over the city of Minneapolis, there are people sleeping in the cold at night. Our response is not working,” Chavez said. “We’re here today to provide solutions.“

The council members took aim at Mayor Jacob Frey, who pushed back against their criticism in his own news conference several hours later. Frey said that large encampments are dangerous and that he believes the city’s plan to address housing with Hennepin County and other partners is working.

“I don’t think it’s compassionate to have people slowly dying of addiction in homeless encampments,” Frey said. “That’s not what compassion looks like to me.”

Friday’s conversation on homelessness was sparked by the fire that erupted Thursday at the latest version of Camp Nenookaasi, displacing roughly 50 people who were living there in yurts and other shelters. There were no fatalities or injuries aside from one person with burned hands and another with smoke inhalation, Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said. The cause is under investigation.

Camp organizer Nicole Mason said the residents are traumatized, and noted a new encampment had already been established in the 2800 block of 14th Avenue S. Speaking at the news conference, Mason said she wants the focus to be on listening to those experiencing homeless.

“Bring us to the table and hear from the people on the streets that are living the situations where they can have some control over their lives,” she said.

Chavez said one of the proposed ordinances would develop a “safe outdoor spaces” program to permit regulated outdoor encampments in certain circumstances. The program would be run by nonprofits or community partners, go through a city permitting process and have on-site security, Chavez said, noting he modeled it after one in Denver.

Another ordinance suggested would create “humane” encampment response policies for the city to follow. It would require an “ample” amount of advance notice to homeless camp residents before an eviction, Chavez said.

“There have been surprise evictions of specific camps, and what happens is service providers lose contacts with their clients,” Chavez said. “We cannot allow that to happen any longer.”

Frey responded by saying the city does provide advance notice to encampment residents when it can. But he said there have been times the city has had to close camps quickly due to concerns about violence and sex or drug trafficking.

Regarding the proposed regulated city program, the mayor said he was open to suggestions but would first need to know whether a reputable organization was in charge, among other details. He stressed his preference for focusing on service providers to set up housing.

“The question I have is: Why not do all of those things, meet people where they’re at, provide cultural sensitivity, get people access to homes, and provide warmth inside?” Frey said.