MINNEAPOLIS — A spokesperson from the city of Minneapolis said Wednesday's planned closure of Northeast's "Quarry Camp" has been postponed, citing a possible "violent confrontation" between advocates and city staff.
"Based on the totality of information the City received this morning, it was clear to us that there was an intention to have a violent confrontation with City staff over this encampment," the spokesperson told KARE 11. "As a result, and in keeping with the City’s commitment to de-escalation, the closure has been postponed."
Facing a reportedly imminent eviction from the tent city they call home, residents asked Minneapolis leaders Tuesday for more time to get their things together.
Last week, city staff notified residents of the "Quarry Camp" they had until Wednesday, Dec. 28 to vacate the strip of city land they currently occupy. The camp sprung up two years ago on the edge of The Quarry shopping district in northeast Minneapolis.
"This camp has been a huge part of intentional community for me," Young Eagle, who has lived in the camp on and off for some time, told reporters Tuesday afternoon at a press conference outside the encampment.
"It’s not just living in tents and stuff out here. There’s been many art projects, and growing flowers, and growing plants. People just helping each other out, practicing what we call mutual aid."
A resident named Nate said he just needs more time to collect his belongings and find a different living situation.
"I really hope you can find it in your heart, Mayor Frey, to give us an extension to get our things out of here," he said.
A Tennessee native named Charles said he has lived at the camp for the past year-and-a-half, and it has functioned well as a launching pad for those who are trying to find jobs and more permanent housing.
"Most of us actually have plans to move on from here, but we've got to have time to finish working those plans out. Just kicking us back out to nothing again is making us start all over again."
City outreach staff have been visiting the site since last May, offering assistance with medicine and other help residents may need. Mayor Jacob Frey said the city is seeking humane options for closing camps in the winter.
He said the staff didn't move to close the Quarry camp until they could reserve spots in shelters for all the remaining residents, estimated at about 10.
"As late as 1:00 p.m. today every resident at the encampment has been offered a shelter, a bed, and a warm place to stay," Frey told KARE 11.
"The only way you survive an encampment through very cold weather is to have a propane tank and have some form of open flame. That’s dangerous. People can die that way."
Frey lamented that, as of Monday evening, none of the camp residents had accepted the city staff's offers of shelter space.
Muirin Rene-Peterson, a volunteer homeless camp outreach worker, said shelters aren't an acceptable option for many.
"There’s no room in shelters. Nobody wants to go to shelters anyway, because they lose all their rights in shelters," Rene-Peterson told reporters.
Another woman, who identified herself as an occasional resident of the camp, said it has afforded her a safety net and independence during hard times.
"If I have a tent that’s insulated, I have a community that protects me, am I just going to go to a shelter I just can stay in for the night. I can’t, I have to leave early in the morning?"
Simeon Aitken of Communities United Against Police Brutality contends that closing encampments only disrupts the fragile lives of homeless persons but offers no long-term solution for them.
"Right now, the only option the City is offering is to continually displace an unhouse people, forcing them not into housing, but into another encampment."
CUAPB's longtime leader, Michelle Gross, called for an end to camp evictions until the larger issue of affordable housing is solved.
"We are out here telling the city we need an immediate moratorium on encampment evictions. The city needs much better policies, and the main policy they need is to leave people the hell alone," Gross remarked.
"People form encampments for mutual support, for warmth, for privacy, for a way to be safe," Gross remarked.
Minneapolis and Hennepin County have jointly spent $200 million on their homelessness response since the beginning of the COVID pandemic and will press the legislature for more funding in the upcoming 2023 Session.
"We have produced record amounts of affordable housing, specifically focusing on that deepest level of affordability, that very low income, low or no barrier housing that people can pull themselves out of homelessness," Mayor Frey explained.
"Getting people in a shelter is the best way to ultimately transition them to long-term affordable housing, which has to be the end goal."
Gross also objected to Minneapolis Police Department's role in shutting down camps. The MPD doesn't initiate evictions, but officers normally accompany other city staff to offer protection during those operations.