St. Paul apartment residents raise health, safety concerns over homeless encampment
Residents at the Waterford Bay Apartments in St. Paul, Minnesota, say they have both health and safety concerns after a homeless encampment next door has continued to grow for months.
Back in August, city crews cleared a homeless encampment at Pig's Eye Park, and many of the campers denied offers of shelter, moving near the intersection of Shepard Road and Randolph Avenue by the apartment building instead.
Dave Zerwas has lived at the complex for over four years in a unit overlooking the camp. He says often he watches smoke wafting up from fires at the encampment.
"Burnt plastic basically getting piped into your apartment; it's bad," he said. "I had the medics out at my place last week."
Another resident, Oliver Heskin, purchased two air purifiers in hopes of improving air quality inside. Heskin showed WCCO videos of industrial air purifiers set up along the hallways of the complex.
Other residents have documented drug use and damaged cars. Dani Anderson moved into the apartments in August, right as the encampment boomed. Anderson says she never would have moved in if she knew what was happening across the street.
"I stopped biking because I am afraid of going and something happening," she said. "I don't really feel safe."
Anderson says she no longer walks her dog down the street and she's often worried her car will be broken into.
The St. Paul City Council voted last week to implement a 60-day pause for outreach before clearing camps and plans to open both temporary and permanent shelter sites.
For Zerwas, the lack of action is frustrating.
"I don't feel like it's going to change," he said. "What I know about city government and the bureaucracy of it is, nothing moves quickly and the likelihood of them moving [the camp] out in January, as they say they are going to, it's just not going to happen."
A spokesperson for Mayor Kaohly Her said her administration plans to move forward with clearing the encampment, but didn't share a timeline.
"We continue to plan for the coordinated transition of the encampments at Randolph and l'Orient, with outreach teams connecting each individual at the encampment to shelter, housing, and services," the spokesperson said.
In the meantime, Zerwas is moving to another unit on the other side of the complex to try to distance himself from the smoke. Anderson is hoping to leave altogether, though she says the price tag could be steep.
WCCO reached out to Waterford Bay Apartments about their concerns, but has yet to hear back.
