MINNEAPOLIS — Several Minneapolis City Council members are requesting Mayor Jacob Frey delay next week's eviction of Camp Nenookaasi after unanimously passing a resolution Thursday declaring unsheltered homelessness a public health emergency.
The resolution, which was passed during Thursday's meeting, said the city is "committed to exploring all policies, actions, partnerships, and investments to urgently and meaningfully address this emergency alongside the Mayor of Minneapolis and City of Minneapolis workers and leaders."
Camp Nenookaasi, an Indigenous-run encampment at 13th Avenue South and East 23rd Street, is scheduled to be cleared on Dec. 14. However, several councilmembers wrote a letter to Frey asking the eviction be delayed until Feb. 16, 2024. Since the start of Camp Nenookaasi four months ago, city officials said 74 people have moved into permanent housing.
In the letter, which was signed by eight councilmembers, it said there are still more than 180 people searching for permanent or long-term shelter.
"Camp Nenookaasi residents and the community members supporting them have been clear: they need more time and resources to get the residents living in Camp Nenookaasi into permanent housing, not a permanent delay of a future closure," the letter reads, in part. "The residents, community members, and service providers want to be a part of the solution in reducing homelessness, ending the cycle of encampment formation and eviction, and addressing serious and urgent public health issues our unsheltered community faces."
Also in the letter, the council members asked that Frey work with them to find "short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions to reduce homelessness, prevent the formation of encampments, and address the serious and urgent public health issues unsheltered populations in Minneapolis face."
The Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID) as well as the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis, Inc., also wrote letters that were released by the mayor's office, both of whom asked that the city close the Nenookaasi encampment.
In a letter dated on Oct. 16, 2023, the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis was "adamant" that the encampment be moved and a police presence be in the area until it's cleared.
"These individuals (at Camp Nenookaasi) are not receiving the aid they need with the daily food deliveries well intended individuals are making," the letter reads. "This only continues to allow these individuals to focus on obtaining the substances that are being misused by them."
The MUID demanded that the encampment be "closed immediately" in a letter written on Nov. 1, 2023.
"In the long run, we understand that this encampment is part of a larger more complex housing issue that requires a collaboration of multiple jurisdictions and community partners to best serve our relatives, and MUID is willing to be part of this process. However, due to the immediate growing public health and safety crisis this situation poses, we demand that the Nenookaasi encampment is closed immediately," the letter reads.
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