Crews are at work Thursday shutting down one of St. Paul's largest homeless encampments. St. Paul city officials are shutting it down for what they say are safety reasons.
Officials have been working to connect residents with resources since first announcing a few weeks ago that the encampment near the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary would be cleared out.
WCCO's Ari Bergeron was there Thursday as dumpsters were being filled and resident's small fires for warmth were being extinguished.
"For the last few people left at the encampment, they were ordered to gather their belongings before moving to another location," he describes. "The melancholy look on their faces said it all the uncertainty of where they will go next. And by the end of the day, the area will look as though it never existed."
There have been multiple fires at the encampment this winter during a time when the city says the number of homeless people sleeping outside has increased significantly. As for where this group of homeless end up?
"Our goal is to get people into shelter or housing," says David Hoban, Deputy Director and the Department of Safety and Inspections. "If that's not an option, and they're probably going to end up going to other areas where there's already people living outside in St. Paul or Minneapolis. We are tracking the folks that are here so that we know where they are."
The homeless encampment has been in the area since about August of 2023 according to St. Paul officials.