City delays the clearing of a MPLS encampment for the second time in two weeks
The city has delayed clearing a controversial Minneapolis homeless encampment for the second time in two weeks.
It didn't set a new date but said the closure needs to happen to address ongoing public health and safety issues including a fatal shooting in the encampment Tuesday evening.
Organizers at Camp Nenookaasi in the Phillips neighborhood argue, closing it down will do more harm than good.
Friday afternoon, WCCO's Ubah Ali went to Camp Nenookaasi and spoke to Bentrell Howze.
The 26-year-old has been moving from one homeless encampment to another for 2 ½ years. He now calls the encampment home.
Howze says although life on the street is tough, he finds hope and help at the encampment.
"The only reason I didn't find housing before it's because there was no established camp and there were no housing workers coming there," Howze said.
Christin Crabtree volunteers as camp organizer, she's seen for months how collaborations from different agencies make a big difference.
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"We've been able to make sure services can come in so people can connect with their outreach worker," Crabtree said.
She believes when camps get cleared that can undo weeks of hard work.
David Andrews with the Agate Street Outreach Team says evictions are a big step backward.
"As soon as evictions happen, we tend to lose people they tend to lose items that are essential to getting them housed," Andrews said.
There's an estimated 180 people living at the camp. So far, Crabtree says 74 people who had lived there found housing, 52 are scheduled to move into housing in the coming days and 33 decided to go to treatment.
Howze is among those folks moving into housing soon.
"With this camp, it's easier for them to seek us out and easier for us to get help," Howze said. "My greatest hope is to have a normal life."
Despite the complaints from neighbors and nearly 90 recent police calls to the camp, Crabtree wants people to know that things are not perfect because people are people.
As for Tuesday's deadly shooting at the camp, investigators now say it was self-defense.
