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I spent a good part of my AM at Kellogg Mall encampment. I do not believe encampments should be forcibly cleared in STP, & at bare minimum this shouldn’t happen w/o workable indoor shelter option as a chosen alternative/ relevant individualized supports for everyone living @ site
I further believe our city should undertake a serious exploration of safely supported outdoor sites for people who can not yet access indoor shelter or other housing as a workable option for them for a number of reasons.
In STP we have made significant strides to expand shelter capacity/hotel space availability in close partnership with Ramsey County. Admin/county recently announced there is enough shelter space and/or funding for options like hotels for everyone currently outside in our city.
In Ward 4 this has included important sites like the Stub Hall at Luther Seminary being converted to a LGBTQ-inclusive couples shelter.
Many are now able to get indoors & access these options, which I wholeheartedly support /will continue to. Even w/this, a policy & on-the-ground reality we must grapple with is numerous ppl are still afraid or unable to be in these shelter options due to a range of circumstances
Without a city willingness to support ppl remaining in encampments w/clear sanitary/public health services I believe we will continue painful & recurring cycle of forced removals/displacement of ppl already living at very margins of our society in a pandemic and extreme weather
I believe we have to find a way to balance the rightful goal of getting everyone indoors into shelter and housing options that are more stable than the outdoors, while supporting temporary sites around the city more actively than just allowing them to exist.
I do not believe there is a shortage of goodwill or resource in STP to shape what this could look like. Many residents have 1sthand knowledge of what it takes -- bc they are homeless themselves, and/or are supported by efforts from neighbors working to help unhoused ppl all year
The City Council should pursue policy to sanction and/or support encampments more formally in partnership with our administration and folks on the ground.
This is also the bare minimum policy we need to adopt. We have inherited a housing and homelessness crisis that spans literal decades of inaction and austerity from generations of leadership.
Every level of gov must take action thru massive investment in public/ social housing, public purchasing of land/empty property for re-use as indoor villages/support spaces for unhoused ppl, & similar major efforts against vehemently anti-homeless sentiment that pervades society
Over nine months into a pandemic, and in spite of around-the-clock tireless efforts, the City of St. Paul has still not received adequate or proportionate help from the federal government, state or Walz administration to take on anything resembling these deep/lasting solutions
We need to keep fighting with what we’ve got while holding every level of government accountable to this crisis.
The complexity of issues some unhoused people face can be enormous, but this issue is solvable, and the values we bring to this work shouldn’t be complicated.
Housing is a human right. Structural choices create homelessness, not individual shortcomings or decisions. People clinging to survival on stolen land shouldn’t face eviction from the only home they’ve been able to create.
Unhoused people shouldn’t be judged by those who can’t begin to understand choosing between heat or safety, sleep or safety, just to get through a night. A society is marked by how it treats the most vulnerable within it.
I have been shaped irreversibly by the people I’ve met in encampments, and I don’t think anyone in government at any level should be able to sleep well until they can too.
