South Minneapolis encampment residents file emergency lawsuit in hopes of halting sweep

Two residents of a major south Minneapolis homeless encampment scheduled to close this week have filed a federal lawsuit against Mayor Jacob Frey in hopes of blocking the city's plans.

Cheryl Sagataw, a member of the Potawatomi Nation who has been homeless for about nine months, and DeAnthony Barnes, who has been in and out of housing since 2011, sued the mayor on behalf of themselves and other residents of the encampment known as Camp Nenookaasi.

Sagataw and Barnes claim they had been pushed from one encampment to another before moving into Camp Nenookaasi, at E. 23rd Street and 13th Ave. S., this summer. They said they found safety and help with drug treatment and applying for permanent housing there, and that dismantling the camp on Thursday would leave them without shelter in the Minnesota winter. More than 100 people currently live in the encampment.

The suit argues destroying encampment residents' property without due process would violate the Fourth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and that preventing them from camping without providing reasonable alternative shelter would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The city of Minneapolis indicated Tuesday that it intends to continue with its planned Thursday closure of the camp. That timeline was announced last week, with city officials pointing to health and safety concerns. An earlier planned closure was delayed after a resident was shot to death inside the encampment in mid-December.

In a statement, city spokesperson Sarah McKenzie said the city has already postponed Camp Nenookaasi's closure twice to allow residents continued contact with outreach workers. The Salvation Army and Rescue Now plans to add 90 beds to the county's shelter system this week, she said.

"All of our encampment members deserve safe and dignified housing. An encampment — especially in winter — does not provide that," McKenzie said. "Additionally, the City must address the ongoing public health and safety issues, like a recent homicide at the encampment."

In recent weeks, reservations for the county's emergency shelter beds have filled up quickly each morning, reflecting more demand than space.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Kira Kelley, has requested a judge hear their expedited plea for a temporary restraining order.

"They essentially don't have anywhere else to go," Kelley said of the residents of Camp Nenookaasi. "We're asking a court in the Eighth Circuit to apply precedent that has been really firming up in other circuits to say that it is cruel and unusual punishment to criminalize somebody, to punish somebody, to impose consequences and hardship on them for existing."

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over seven western states, previously decided in Martin v. Boise that it is cruel and unusual for cities to enforce anti-camping laws when there is insufficient space in homeless shelters.

That ruling does not apply to the seven Midwestern states under the Eighth Circuit, including Minnesota.

In 2020 the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota sued Hennepin County, Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park Board over their response to widespread encampments established during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ACLU also requested a temporary restraining order to halt sweeps, but was denied after the city and county argued that beds in congregant emergency shelters were going unused each night at the time. The ACLU lawsuit continues on the claim that the government agencies wrongfully destroyed personal property while closing camps.

Camp Nenookaasi sits on city land soon to be sold to the Indigenous Peoples Task Force, a nonprofit that serves people living with HIV. IPTF is planning to complete the purchase in February and begin development of an art and wellness center.