Police begin eviction of relocated Camp Nenookaasi, residents say they had little notice

Updated 3:42 p.m.

Minneapolis Police are present as camp residents are being evicted from the relocated Camp Nenookaasi about a month after the previous site had been cleared.

Camp organizer Christin Crabtree told MPR News that around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, unmarked police cars began forming a perimeter around the encampment at 26th Street and 14th Avenue in Minneapolis.

Crabtree said there is a significant police presence on Bloomington Avenue where it intersects 27th, 26th and 25th avenues.  

This follows a shooting of a 29-year-old man at the camp early Monday morning.

The Minneapolis Police Department said Tuesday that it responded to reports of a shooting there and found the man, whose injuries were not life-threatening, just outside the camp in an alley. Initial reports suggest the assailant came from inside the camp. No arrests have been made.

Crabtree said the person involved in the shooting had been a source of conflict for the past several weeks and that people at the camp called 911 for help removing the individual.

At a press conference after evictions began, Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette said the shooting was one factor in the city’s decision to close the camp. Another was the outbreak of a stomach virus there last week, Barnette said.

“We cannot ignore the public safety concerns at these large encampments or the health concerns associated with the large encampments,” he said.

Barnette added that he hopes to share more information on 911 calls related to the camp at a city council committee meeting Wednesday.

Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher said the city will not permit another large encampment from forming. She said it will cite anyone who returns to the site for trespassing and is working with community partners to find shelter and housing placements for residents.

Kelliher said there have routinely been 80 to 90 shelter beds available since the camp relocated earlier this month. She said about 25 people have been staying overnight at the camp. Crabtree's estimate is around 100.

Not all of the available beds, however, are considered low-barrier, meaning they allow people who are actively using drugs to stay there. Camp Nenookaasi organizers say they have sought to make the camp a safe place for people with substance use disorder, supplying overdose reversal drugs and building community that might push people toward treatment and housing.

“We took the risk on and it was worth it because we’ve seen so many people, out of a couple hundred of us, get somewhere better than these streets,” said Jorge Grijalva, who had been living in the original camp and at its new site for five months.

Grijalva said he was given 90 minutes to leave.

“It is unacceptable the initial responses are 90 minutes to help people move,” said Council Member Jason Chavez, who represents the ward where the camp is located. "There's a lot of people that live there and to have an hour and a half to move, that's just unacceptable and should not be a part of any process."

When news of the eviction spread, community members arrived on the scene to help residents of the camp move belongings, though significantly fewer were available compared to when the previous eviction occurred on Jan. 4, according to MPR News staff on the scene.

Crabtree said city officials told organizers on Jan. 5 that an eviction was imminent but the city would provide a notice. A later conversation with the city also led them to believe an eviction would happen.

The city said crews will wait until people at the encampment have had ample time to gather their things. As of 11:00 a.m., three residents had left the camp, according to the city.

Anderson Kelliher said the city is working with county service providers and Red Lake Nation to provide more low-barrier options for people in need of shelter. She said it has identified two city-owned lots that it is working to transfer to Red Lake for healing and opioid addiction treatment centers.

Correction (Jan. 30, 2024) : A previous version of this story had the incorrect title for Margaret Anderson Kelliher and misspelled Christin Crabtree’s first name. The above version is correct.