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St. Paul encampment clearings incoming
A new push to clear St. Paul homeless encampments has some of the city’s social service organizations scrambling to adjust and ready resources.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A new push to clear St. Paul’s homeless encampments has some social service organizations scrambling to adjust.
St. Paul encampment clearings
What we know:
The city announced the upcoming clearings earlier this month, citing public health and safety concerns.
The St. Paul Police and Fire Departments say they have collectively seen more than 800 calls for service to camps since July of last year, according to a presentation given to the city council Wednesday.
St. Paul officials say the first closure is set to happen at Pig's Eye Park on Aug. 5.
Other encampments will then be closed "on a rolling basis," the city says.
Some social services organizations say the clearings will make it more difficult for them to connect with people needing help.
What they're saying:
"I pass out a lot of gauze. I pass out a lot of bandaids," Kat Hunter, founder of Rising Waters Mutual Aid, a nonprofit serving unhoused people in the camps, told FOX 9.
Hunter said with the encampments gone, they’ll spend more time searching for the people needing the help, and less time actually helping.
"I have people who see me and say, can I get the usual and I have a list in brain of what the usual is for them," Hunter said.
Since news of the city’s plans to clear encampments starting next month, Hunter said Rising Waters and other homeless outreach groups are scrambling to change strategy.
"Our plan is to host pop-ups and to drive around to try to find people," Hunter said.
Dig deeper:
At a Wednesday council meeting the city allocated more than one million dollars to adding new shelter beds in Ramsey County.
But Hunter is worried there aren’t enough for an influx coming from the encampments.
Data on Ramsey County’s website shows 300 people used night-by-night shelters in the last month.
The city of St. Paul estimates about 200 people live in the camps slated for clearing.
Hunter acknowledges that some people in the encampments choose to be outside, instead of in a shelter.
That’s what, Hunter says, makes outreach groups so worried.
"Closing it now does not mean that people won’t get frostbite. It means that we might not know that they got frostbite. And it might not be able to be treated," said Hunter.
Ramsey county has more than 500 shelter beds, though they don’t keep a public list of how many of those are open or in-use.
St. Paul’s mayor, in a statement on social media Friday, said, "city and county outreach teams will continue following up with individuals after the transition to help them remain connected to housing resources, behavioral health resources and other critical supports."
What's next:
More information from the city can be found here.