St. Paul residents demand action at Midway crime forum as housing complex remains at issue

More than 200 people packed a St. Paul recreation center Thursday to demand solutions to trending crime in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood — and particularly one troubled housing complex — as they said increased drug activity has harmed their safety and quality of life.

Residents filled every seat in the Hancock Recreation Center’s gym, while dozens more sat on the floor and others stood. The forum was one of several organized by the Hamline Midway Development Coalition that focused on crime in the neighborhood: specifically around Kimball Court apartments, which authorities say has become a hub for drug trafficking, and the intersection of University and Snelling avenues, where the Metro Green Line shuttles scores of people.

The drug-related activity brought a bevy of concerns from residents Thursday. Some reported picking up drugs and cleaning human waste from their property everyday. One neighbor said belongings are often stolen from their porch, and a woman said she has avoided Kimball Court and the troubled intersection since being hit and robbed there.

“On my block, it is legitimately the worst it has ever been,” said one speaker, who said she’s lived in the area for a decade.

“The problem is there is a constant stream of people coming in and out of Kimball Court. ... People are spreading out in all directions from that location where they know they can get high, and it’s happening in my alley. My kids are stepping over needles.”

Concerns around Kimball Court apartments have roiled for months. Residents’ ire comes amid a planned 22-unit expansion of the supportive housing complex, to expand the number from 76 to 98. Andrea Suchy-Shinn, who owns a fourplex near Kimball Court, recalled a midafternoon day late last month when she watched a man walk out of the complex three times in an hour and deliver something to three groups of people.

“Shortly after, they got high,” she said. “Clearly it’s not working. So here’s my question: You don’t have the money now, how in the world is it going to get better if we add another 20 beds yet you can’t do what you need to do now?”

Kimball Court is a 1920s-era former hotel, which Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative bought in 2010. The collaborative opened rooms under a Housing First model focused on getting people off the streets and into housing without requiring sobriety. The pandemic stalled Beacon Interfaith’s initial expansion plans.

Amid an increase of crime in the area, police officer Andrew Lewis reported in September that Kimball Court had become a drug distribution hub, where fentanyl was being smoked in the open, residents and delivery drivers were being robbed, and loitering was common..

“Several property managers have told me they have lost several renters due to the fear they have from these parties,” Lewis said in his report. “Business owners are afraid for their employees, residents are afraid for their children, and multiple people in the area [are] victimized on a regular basis.”

He also wrote: “In 23 years of working in this city, I have never witnessed the amount of unsheltered persons in the Western district, mainly up and down Snelling Avenue, but now every morning up and down Snelling there is someone sleeping in almost every business entryway. They are all waiting for the activity to begin at Kimball Court and spend their entire day hovering around it.”

Many voiced similar concerns Thursday, but City Council President Mitra Jalali said many factors affecting crime around the apartments were beyond Beacon Interfaith’s control. Expanding its building, she said, could help with the problem.

“We’re having a lot of concurrent challenges in our community. We’re having economic pressures. ... We’re having the cheapest of fentanyl being dumped into our streets that we’re in a battle against,” Jalali said.

“Part of why there’s things happening outside is there aren’t enough rooms here. This renovation and expansion actually helps those people begin to transition from outside to inside.”

Construction on the expansion is expected to start in December. It’s not the only potential solution in the works.

Police announced plans to increase patrols and enforcement in the area soon, mirroring a focused enforcement detail that was begun in September. Western District Chief Stacy Murphy said the detail, which stretched between Western and Snelling avenues along University Avenue, netted 46 arrests and two handguns.

Recent data suggests safety in the neighborhood has improved. Arrests for burglary, theft, assault, firearm discharges and car theft decreased this year compared with 2023, according to a Minnesota Star Tribune analysis of police data.

But arrests for robbery and drug violations have surged. The Midway neighborhood made headlines recently with the murder of an Iowa man during an alleged drug buy and the fatal shooting by police of an armed man suspected of killing three in Minneapolis.

Ben Clarke, the Beacon Interfaith asset manager, said Kimball Court will help improve safety in the neighborhood. Clarke said the nonprofit organization has added lighting, cleaned the apartment’s alley and sidewalks, posted a “no trespassing” sign, penned an affidavit to allow more police enforcement and plan to install exterior security cameras.

An armed security guard already monitors the building 24/7. Beacon Interfaith could staff more security if other upgrades don’t work, but Clarke said the cost makes that unlikely.

“Why not a second agent? Because we’re spending, unexpectedly in the last couple years, $400,000 a year on a security agent for 8,760 hours per year,” Clarke said. “No nonprofit that I know of can handle that. If we can find other ways to flex agents in, we are going to be doing that.”

However, Suchy-Shinn, the nearby fourplex owner, challenged that assertion.

“I’ve heard today that we’ve asked for more security, and there isn’t enough money. And I’ve heard we’ve asked for more staff support and heard that there isn’t enough money,” she said. “And yet you’re going to add another 20 beds, and your community is screaming that this particular program isn’t working for our community.”

Brooke Blakey, director the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, said St. Paul is partnering with community organizations to prevent crime and help people in the area. Blakey said many of those organizations want volunteers and that Midway residents could have a direct impact on the area by joining them.

As the meeting neared its end, Jalali was asked: “Beacon has promised things will get better once they expand. If things don’t get better, council president, what are you prepared to do?”

“We’re not going to accept things not getting better. We’re going to keep showing up like we have this whole time,” Jalali said.

“Things have improved from four years ago. We have engaged at a new level. There’s commitments, on record, to the community that are coming and following through. And I’m not going to quit until it is what it needs to be.”

Susan Du contributed to this report.