MINNEAPOLIS — *Editor's Note: The above video first aired Dec. 8, 2023.
People at Camp Nenookaasi will have until Dec. 19 — five additional days — to find new housing before the the city of Minneapolis moves forward with closing the encampment.
Camp Nenookaasi, an Indigenous-run encampment at 13th Avenue South and East 23rd Street, was scheduled to be cleared on Thursday, Dec. 14, but the city delayed the closure, saying it will spend the five extra days "working closely with partners to get dozens more community members into housing."
Last week, eight council members wrote a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey asking him to delay the eviction until Feb. 16, 2024 to help allow enough time for people to find permanent or long-term shelter. Since the start of the encampment four months ago, city officials said 74 people had moved into permanent housing. However, more than 180 people are still seeking long-term or permanent shelter.
"Camp Nenookaasi residents and the community members supporting them have been clear: they need more time and resources to get the residents living in Camp Nenookaasi into permanent housing, not a permanent delay of a future closure," the letter reads, in part. "The residents, community members, and service providers want to be a part of the solution in reducing homelessness, ending the cycle of encampment formation and eviction, and addressing serious and urgent public health issues our unsheltered community faces."
The city said the decision to close the encampment was driven by "ongoing public safety and public health issues," referencing a recent shooting and an incident in October when a baby was found dead at the encampment. On Tuesday, just hours after the city announced the delay, a 45-year-old man was shot and killed inside a tent at the encampment.
The Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID) as well as the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis, Inc., also wrote letters that were released by the mayor's office, both of whom asked that the city close the Nenookaasi encampment.
In a letter dated Oct. 16, 2023, the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis was "adamant" that the encampment be moved and a police presence be in the area until it's cleared.
"These individuals (at Camp Nenookaasi) are not receiving the aid they need with the daily food deliveries well intended individuals are making," the letter reads. "This only continues to allow these individuals to focus on obtaining the substances that are being misused by them."
The MUID demanded that the encampment be "closed immediately" in a letter written on Nov. 1, 2023.
"In the long run, we understand that this encampment is part of a larger more complex housing issue that requires a collaboration of multiple jurisdictions and community partners to best serve our relatives, and MUID is willing to be part of this process. However, due to the immediate growing public health and safety crisis this situation poses, we demand that the Nenookaasi encampment is closed immediately," the letter reads.
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