Some outreach workers warn closing St. Paul encampments will fracture vital aid networks

For the past two years, 39-year-old Ryan Gill and his chihuahua-terrier Willow have lived at their spot in an encampment tucked away in the woods — just off Shepard road in St. Paul and not too far from the Mississippi River.

Gill keeps the grounds tidy with a broom. He loves the breeze through the tree canopy and the view of the water. When Willow wanders off in her red vest, this is where she knows to return.

“And anytime I’m gone and she’s looking for me, she always comes back here and waits for me,” Gill said. “This is home to her, too.”

But it won’t be their home for much longer. The camp, where about 40 people live, is among three long-standing encampments that will soon be broken up. The city announced the closures earlier this month, citing growing concerns about health and safety there.

Although the amount of available long-term housing has not increased — more than 2,600 people and families are on the waitlist for Ramsey County’s coordinated entry list — Mayor Kaohly Her said the goal is to get people connected to resources in time for winter.

“It is not humane or compassionate to allow these encampments to continue,” she told MPR News.

Dozens testify against camp closures

The announcement has sparked sharp opposition, which was visible during a packed public hearing at City Hall Wednesday afternoon.

Dozens of community members — including unhoused people and those who provide help at the encampments — testified that the clearings would hurt camp residents. Several pointed to research showing an increased risk of death and said the closures would disperse people into isolation, making it harder for residents to support one another and get continuous support from outreach workers.

Gill, the longtime resident at the Shepard encampment, shared similar sentiments ahead of the meeting. He said out at the camp, residents watch each other’s tents when someone steps away. They keep an eye out for troublemakers who aren’t welcome, and they trade and share resources.

“There are common rules, you know. Respect each other. Don’t steal from each other,” he said. “You see a person in need? Help them.”

He said when a newcomer arrives without anything, he’ll offer them a sleeping spot in his yurt until they get their own tent. In the winter, he turns his yurt into a warming space to share warmth.

“That’s what it’s for, you know,” he said. “For people that ain’t got nothing right now.”

Gill said he’s not sure where he’s going to go next. He avoids shelters because they feel unsafe. When he got on the housing waitlist a couple years ago, it didn’t end up going anywhere. It would be nice to have a stable house to give Willow baths, he said, but he likes being outside, where there’s freedom and familiar faces.

One of the people who regularly goes to the encampment is Kat Donnelly, a nurse with Healthcare for the Homeless in St. Paul (Gill knows her by her first name). She’s outside five days a week and provides healthcare for about 200 people. She thinks the closures are a dangerous idea.

“For me, the overarching concern is continuing the care that I’ve set up with people,” she said. “It’s difficult to treat disease and care for people when you can’t find them … and when people don’t feel well, it’s very difficult to make other choices.”

Before St. Paul had “stable” encampments, Donnelly said she spent most of her day searching for her patients. But in recent years, she’s been able to shift toward more preventative care. It’s a turn that’s taken a lot of time and trust building — and allowed her to double the number of people she treats.

With established locations to find people, she’s successfully treated syphilis, a disease that requires three shots one week apart. She has consistently delivered insulin to patients, maintained schizophrenia medication and kept patients’ blood pressure under control.

One patient she’s particularly worried about is a pregnant woman who has been stuck on the housing waitlist. The woman is in her third trimester, with her baby due in September. All she can do is wait, Donnelly said.

“It is really disheartening that there is not clear guidance about the plan to keep people healthy,” she said.

Donnelly is part of a weekly call with dozens of other service providers involved in the city and county’s coordinated efforts to serve unhoused people. When the closure plan was announced at that meeting, Donnelly said she and everybody who spoke up expressed feeling blindsided.

She said she was not consulted leading up to the announcement, nor was she consulted leading up to a presentation Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker delivered to the city council Wednesday afternoon, sharing more details about the plans.

Hundreds of response calls led to closure decision

Baker said the city is committed to making sure that "if anybody needs to be inside, they can be inside." He said the goal is for outreach workers to have multiple conversations with residents before police take up enforcement as a last resort.

“And when you do potentially have a conversation with police officers, it’s still a continuum before you even get to enforcement,” he said. “In general, we do not want to criminalize being homeless.”

Baker said the tipping point was an increase in residents at Pig’s Eye and more than 850 first responder calls across the encampments in the past year. He said the Shepard encampment is also on contaminated land, posing a risk to those living there.

Moving forward, he said the city will no longer allow established encampments.

The presentation did not explain how the response will mitigate the spread of infection disease or the elevated risk of overdose deaths, which Council Member Molly Coleman noted would be helpful for follow-up.

Ramsey County Manager Ling Becker said county outreach workers have been at the encampments working to eliminate some barriers to housing. That’s included replacing identification documents, connecting people to county benefits, and helping residents resolve outstanding warrants.

Ramsey County executed an agreement with Catholic Charities Tuesday to open up an additional 49 emergency shelter beds at Higher Ground, she noted. The city council authorized the mayor’s request to transfer $1 million to the county for expanding shelter capacity ahead of the first closure.

That closure is set for Aug. 5 at Pig’s Eye Park, also known as the Fish Hatch encampment. That’s the largest camp where an estimated 120-200 people live. The city hasn’t picked dates for the smaller encampments yet, but said they will aim to give residents prior notice as they did with the first closure.

What happens when someone needs help from a community that’s been dispersed?

Kat Hunter, a helper who runs the mutual aid group Rising Waters with their spouse, said uncertainty is high across the camps, where they’ve been distributing survival essentials for the past year and a half.

The couple rents a small warehouse unit where volunteers assemble hygiene kits and snack bags. Colorful shelves teem with resources: batteries, harm reduction supplies, tents, tarps, pet food, pads and coffee. They try to distribute 2,000 water bottles each week and, lately with the extreme heat, 500 pounds of ice each day.

Hunter said recently, a 76-year-old man collapsed from the high temperatures. When he fell, it was other camp residents who rallied to help. Hunter had no idea he couldn’t get out of his tent until other residents alerted them.

“But what happens when he can’t camp with people?” Hunter wondered.

They added the man had previously stayed in shelters but avoided them as much as possible because of previous harsh experiences there.

“People built these spaces because they serve them, and the harms are in part because we don’t support them in that,” Hunter said. “If we have housing for everybody, we should house everyone. But if we don’t, people are building a society and a culture and a community that they want, and they need our support.”

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