Rochester grapples with growing number of homeless camps

ROCHESTER – Rochester city officials are struggling with a growing number of homeless encampments — at least 20 that have been cleaned up or abandoned since April — while police get more calls concerning homeless residents than in previous years.

Police are urging the city to expand a 2014 City Council resolution prohibiting camping overnight in parks to all city-owned property. Some council members want a permanent camping spot for homeless residents while the city and county tackle an ongoing lack of housing and shelters.

All agree on one thing: There are no easy answers for how to handle the growing issue — for Rochester or other cities across the state.

"If there was we'd all be doing it," Rochester Police Chief Jim Franklin told the council on Monday during a study session on the issue.

The number of homeless residents continues to grow in Rochester and Olmsted County. Rochester Public Schools reported about 640 students without permanent shelter this year, up from about 400 in 2022. The city's aging 45-bed Community Warming Center is at capacity, turning away two to three people on average each night. And about 15 to 20 evictions take place in Olmsted County each week.

Though resources are limited, housing officials say they try to connect people with services as much as possible. That doesn't mean those services help end homeless camps, though.

There are "a lot of people who are camping who have been made aware of services and who chose not to utilize them," said Dave Dunn, Olmsted County's housing director.

City and county officials have spent months working with nonprofits and advocates on expanding shelter space within Rochester. Dunn said the county has acquired property for a proposed family shelter that could start later this year, while local officials hope to secure part of the $100 million in shelter funding the Minnesota Legislature approved last month.

Rochester police say they've had about 1,790 incidents reported this year involving homeless people. Police project that could lead to more than 4,000 incident reports in 2023, significantly higher than the 2,714 incidents reported last year and 1,916 incidents reported in 2021.

Most homeless camps that are reported are inhabited by one to six people near public parks.

"It's quite often next to trails, near bridges, near walkways, near roadways," Parks and Recreation Director Paul Widman said.

Police and parks officials cleared out a homeless man's camp near Silver Lake Park on Monday morning across from the fire station, then again Tuesday after the man moved to the station's yard.

Then "they pushed him into a residential neighborhood," said Dan Fifield, co-founder of the Landing homeless shelter.

While officials stress they're trying to be compassionate, they say the camps are a growing safety hazard for all involved. Widman pointed out one of his department's staff found a 61-year-old man dead at Cook Park last week.

Franklin wants an ordinance to make camping on city property a misdemeanor criminal offense. He said there are few arrests made at encampments as most people comply, but there needs to be legal consequences and consistent follow-through to make some change their habits and comply.

"We're not trying to criminalize this," Franklin said. "There are times where we do need some teeth from a law enforcement perspective."

Fifield and other homeless advocates say a city ordinance will only make things worse. And Fifield said county services don't help the homeless as much as housing or shelter.

"There are other ways to handle it than trying to run them out," Fifield said.

Council Member Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick suggested opening a permanent camp. She said she previously spoke with city officials about potentially using part of the Olmsted County Fairgrounds at Graham Park south of downtown, while Fifield and other advocates have pushed for public land near the Rochester Police Department's North Station in northeast Rochester.

"How compassionate is it to break an encampment yet no one has any place else to go?" Kirkpatrick said.