A large encampment in South Minneapolis is expected to be cleared out today after a federal judge denied a request to stop the eviction.
About one hundred people are living in tents at the intersection of 23rd Street and 13th Avenue in the East Phillips neighborhood.
Some people living at the camp have started moving some of their belongings and there's word that some are going to another encampment not far away from the current one.
WCCO Radio has been told some people have arranged alternative housing, but many others do not have a plan for where they'll end up next.
"The city is not the social services provider," says Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. "The social services provider is Hennepin County.
The Mayor told WCCO's Chad Hartman Thursday afternoon it's clear that this system of rotating encampments is not working, and he says the city needs deeper partnerships with those who can help.
Nicole Mason helps to manage Camp Nenookaasi, and told reporters this morning they remain frustrated.
"We were promised 90 shelter beds a forty permanent housing for our relatives, right? I don't see anything there and I don't see any storage," said Mason.
The City of Minneapolis provided a court document on Thursday that shows a comprehensive overview and timeline of their outreach efforts with partners at the Nenookaasi encampment, including several attempts to provide services to those residents. You can read that below.
Director of Regulatory Services for the City of Minneapolis declaration in Homeless Encampment Case by Lindsey on Scribd
Frey says a big part the city's rotating encampment problem that doesn't really get talked about is fentanyl.
"Of course, there are housing issues and you can approach those by giving people more housing," explains Frey. "But that's not fully confronting an addiction issue and fentanyl, as we've discussed, is a drug that takes a hold of people like nothing that we've seen before. In addition to harm reduction, which I support, we also need to do important treatment and prevention work."
The question 'where do people go' never gets answered," says Minneapolis City Council Member Elliot Payne . "They point fingers at each other. The city is like, 'oh, we don't do the services, we don't provide this and that.'"
Payne was there during the clean up and say's he still has concerns.
"Some of the residents have already moved over to another empty lot, and that's been my main concern about this eviction process, is that it's not actually getting to the root cause," says Payne.
City officials say the continued public health and safety concerns at the site prompted an this clearing of the camp.
