Minneapolis mayor, advocates spar over handling of encampments
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is explaining his call for city staff to "expedite" encampment clearings, while preventing new encampments from forming.
In an interview Friday, Frey said while the city has plans to add outreach and staff to assist with encampments, the current strategy is to prioritize closing them, while utilizing a homeless response team to connect people in them to services, shelters and addiction care.
In an interview with WCCO Thursday, the city's regulatory services director said to close an encampment, certain criteria needs to be met, including health and safety risks to the community.
"The recognition is that we need to be closing these as quickly as possible. Because we've seen the impact," Frey said. "We need to move quicker. So the plan is to expedite this faster so we can get these encampments removed. We can get people that are willing into shelter, and we can be compassionate, yes, to the people in these encampments, and yes, to the surrounding neighborhood."
Frey criticized council members and advocates who push for encampments to stay open.
"The numbers show the problems in these neighborhoods show that this is the wrong approach and it's irresponsible," he said. "I listen to experts. I talk to the people that are doing the work on the ground. And there is broad consensus … that we need to expedite these closures, because they are not safe."
Encampment advocates disagree — and strongly disagree with top city officials' comments that people supporting encampment residents through donations are hurting, not helping.
"I don't even know how that could be true," said Adreinne Dorn, president of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. "I understand that's an attitude of a lot of residents and folks who are in positions of power, sure. But I don't think that that's true. I think that people need help, and we're here to help them."
On Friday, the council, in partnership with Sanctuary Supply Depot, gave away 50 "kits," which include tents and sleeping bags. While this event happens weekly, Dorn says multiple encampment evictions this week increased demand.
"I know we're meeting needs, but it does feel a bit of a hamster wheel. It's sort of a cycle, it keeps happening," she said. "When we're evicting people from the homes that they've created, it's basically making them feel less human, and throwing their things away. I don't think that that's helping."
"We're listening to our constituents," Frey said. "We're listening to the experiences that they've had day in and day out, and we're also recognizing that the compassionate approach for people at these encampments is to not let them slowly kill themselves with a needle in their arms."
"Unhoused people stay in encampments for safety, because that's a community," said Naomi Wilson of the Sanctuary Supply Depot. "That's the only way that they know safety. If they're not in encampments, it's easier for them to get picked off by traffickers, it's easier for them to be targeted by serial killers. That's not an exaggeration."