Encampment violence puts spotlight on Minneapolis homeless approach

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis City Council offered its solutions to the connected problems of homelessness and criminal violence on Thursday.

They passed three measures a day after police responded to three shootings and two homicides near homeless encampments. The council majority and the mayor don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, including how to address homelessness.

Council, mayor agree approach isn't working

One thing they agree on is that what the city’s doing right now isn’t working.

When three shootings near homeless encampments killed two people on the same day, Mayor Jacob Frey made his pitch for his occasional camp evictions.

"These encampments are not safe for the people living at them," he said. "They are not safe for the overarching neighborhood."

Magnet for violence?

The encampments have acted like a magnet for violence.

In the Third Precinct, police have responded to 87 shootings this year. Nineteen of them, more than 22%, have happened in an encampment or within 500 feet. Twenty-six people have been hit and three have died in the shootings in and near encampments.

But forcing everybody out of them hasn’t stopped the violence.

"We close one here, it pops up somewhere else over there," said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara. "And that's been the community's frustration."

"Violence in encampments is a real serious issue, and that's why we have to have a better approach," said Minneapolis city council president Elliott Payne.

Camp sweeps get expensive

Council members say every encampment sweep costs the city roughly $120,000 -- adding up to millions a year.

They say it’s not the best way to attack the problem, so they want the mayor to join them in brainstorming other solutions.

"Any challenge to the way that we have as a city evicted encampments is met with 'So you just want to let them grow?'" said council member Jeremiah Ellison. "No, that's not the solution either."

Three new ideas

Their ideas include three items passed Thursday.

They pushed eviction notices from 14 days to 30, forced the mayor’s office to report on outcomes for people evicted from encampments, and dedicated $1.5 million to potentially rescue a downtown shelter facility.

That could save about 130 beds, but the big-picture solution would likely require much bigger spending.

"It's very well understood that a housing first approach works, and it's a matter of the political will and the prioritization of that strategy," said Payne.

Mayor won't back down

The mayor says Minneapolis has invested in affordable housing and cut unsheltered homelessness significantly over the last year.

But he’s directing staff to speed up camp enclosures even with the new reporting requirements.