St. Paul will transfer $1 million to Ramsey County to expand facilities ahead of homeless encampment closures

Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker addressed the Council's Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.

"Just thinking about the overall toll that they are navigating right now, before this decision was made," Baker told the council. "And potentially after this decision is made on just working and working and trying to compassionately find ways of supporting these individuals in encampments."

Earlier this month, Mayor Mayor Kaohly Her announced upcoming closures across multiple encampments due to what the city calls "unsafe conditions."

“I commend the thoughtfulness and compassion our team has brought to centering the human impact of closures since this internal task force launched at the beginning of the year,” said Mayor Kaohly Her at the time. “No matter how we address this issue, which is one of the most significant challenges facing communities across our country, there will be disruption. My sincere intent is that the plan we are announcing today will minimize that impact while helping connect individuals to a safer, more stable life.”

Baker says man encampments sit on contaminated land including the riverside camp near Shepherd Road. That area is on an old junkyard.

"We just don't believe it's also healthy and safe to be in the spots that these individuals are in," he says. "And so, it was another reason and an element that led into our decision for closure."

At least 100 people are estimated to be living in Pig's Eye Park. Other encampments will begin shutting down on a rolling basis, in a effort to connect the unhoused with services "well before the onset of winter."

The residents at the encampment are angry, however.

"Why aren't people with resources coming down here with forms and helping people fill out those forms, or if they have legal problems like getting that cleared up to help them elevate and get out of this place," one of the residents told WCCO Radio's Ari Bergeron recently.