Effort to pause removal of unhoused encampments fails at Mpls. City Council
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minneapolis City Council considered a pause on forcibly removing unhoused encampments on Thursday, but the measure failed in a vote after the city attorney said it wasn't within the council's authority.
Discussion of the measure lasted for over an hour, with council members going back and forth and at some points becoming heated with members of the gallery.
Ultimately, the Minneapolis city attorney determined that the directive to put a pause on forced removals and clearing encampments until next spring went above what the council is able to do, saying that would be under executive authority.
The measure failed 5-8 in a vote.
Council member Aisha Chughtai, who introduced the directive, argued that wasn't the case.
"We should be striving for every resident in this city to be housed, that's not the reality of the world we live in," Chughtai said. "Our present method of clearing encampments sets everyone backwards."
Chughtai introduced the directive to the council in two parts. While the first, a pause on encampment evictions, did not pass, the second portion, which called for a fiscal and health analysis of evictions, did.
Earlier this month, city staff and Minneapolis police forcefully cleared three encampments in one day. Shortly after, activists spent several nights sleeping outside city hall calling for a pause on the process.
Council Member Latrisha Vetaw said Thursday's proposal was more for show.
"This could have come through so many different committees. That is the way things are done, it's a process," Vetaw said. "I don't like how some people want process and data for certain things, but not everything. This is an opportunity for us to get it right. This is not the time to perform, to play up to a group of people who come to threaten you and make you feel bad."
The measure would have paused forced removals until April 30, 2023.
