Statement on Unsheltered Homelessness and Tent Encampments
The share of our population experiencing unsheltered homelessness has grown at an alarming rate since the beginning of the COVID-19 public health emergency, with record numbers in the last month. Hennepin County estimates that more than 750 residents are experiencing unsheltered homelessness across Hennepin County, with nearly 300 residents in Powderhorn Park alone. Because of the difficulty in accounting for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, the actual numbers are likely significantly higher.
Over the last few weeks, my office has received communications from nearly 1,000 residents—thank you for entrusting your concerns, ideas, and feedback with us. We and I have spent time listening directly to those who are most impacted by the growing tent encampment crisis, as well as listening to those on the ground implementing. We have spent time learning about the scale of the problems we face, as well as exploring the limited sets of tools available to address these problems at scale.
I am publishing this statement today with the best set of recommendations I can develop at this time. I hope that my words today will support you in holding me, and my peers in elected offices, accountable to addressing this growing crisis.
Unsheltered homelessness at this scale requires scaled institutional responses that address root causes to homelessness, in a compassionate and resident-centered manner. This statement focuses primarily on the government responses needed at Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis, and will:
Outline relevant policy areas, and respective governing bodies responsible for each.
Discuss my perspective on the current situation, and the values I’m rooted in.
Offer short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions moving forward.
Outlining Policy Areas and Governing Bodies
I want to begin by defining three distinct but inherently intertwined areas of policy, and how different layers of government are responsible for each. Since tent encampments are growing in size, it is clear to me that each layer of government, including Hennepin County, must do more in our respective areas to achieve the outcomes we desire for our residents.
Encampment Policy: Tent encampments are gatherings of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness, for the purpose of creating community and safety among unsheltered residents. Encampment Policy intends to address public health and resident safety in and around these spaces. Like we’ve seen in past weeks, most tent encampments are administered entirely by resident leaders and community volunteers. Tent encampments are a last resort for residents who have nowhere else to go, and who may determine them as the best option for themselves individually or for their families. There are many reasons why a shelter may not meet needs, ranging from those without a marriage certificate to prove their family status to those suffering from addiction.
Specific to Minneapolis tent encampments, the City of Minneapolis is the Public Health Authority and has the statutory authority for any public health response. Additionally as tent encampment sizes increase, the City of Minneapolis has a statutory authority for any public safety response.
Shelter Policy: Shelters are set up to be temporary places to stay while individuals are experiencing homelessness. Shelter Policy intends to create, support, and staff shelters that meet a wide range of needs for individuals and families. Shelters are either administered by nonprofit organizations or by a government body.
Specific to Minneapolis tent encampments, Hennepin County has statutory authority around shelter.
Affordable Housing Policy: Affordable housing is defined as housing that is at or below the affordability limit of 80% Area Median Income (AMI), which translates to approximately $75,500 annually for a four-person household. Most affordable housing is built privately, but affordable housing policy usually refers to housing units partially financed by government entities. This includes funding supportive housing and public housing. Affordable housing policy should be approached as a long-term solution to housing unaffordability, and should specify affordability levels such as 60% or 50% AMI. Specific to those experiencing homelessness or other forms of housing instability, deeply affordable housing serves people at 30% AMI or lower and should be paired with supportive social services.
Specific to Minneapolis encampments, affordable housing policy does not solve immediate needs. Longer term, I am proud of the important strategic direction Hennepin County launched this year focusing on deeply affordable units; however our commitment is not enough in comparison to the scale of need that is already present and will grow in the wake of the pandemic.
Discussing My Perspective and Values
Staff leaders at the City of Minneapolis, the State of Minnesota, and Hennepin County have worked countless hours expanding and improving shelter opportunities as the unsheltered population grows, with demonstrated success that we must celebrate.
However, alongside our successes, this problem persists for so many of our residents and we must act with urgency. Local governments like Hennepin County are scrambling to grapple with homelessness at a larger magnitude than we’ve ever experienced, during a time when tax revenues to fund our efforts are drying up. Recent State measures that could have helped people remain housed have stalled in the legislature, particularly in the GOP-controlled Senate.
I am thankful to the concerned neighbors who have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of supplies to support unsheltered residents, to the compassionate volunteers who have coordinated medical outreach and staffed 24-hour security patrols, and to the many social service organizations like Avivo, St. Stephen’s, People Serving People, Mad Dads, and more who have stepped up to connect residents to resources and amplify efforts to secure temporary shelter and/or permanent housing as quickly as possible.
Alongside my gratitude to government staff, community leaders, and concerned neighbors, I am also frustrated. I am frustrated that we are in a political moment with empty/vacant buildings, federal CARES Act money sitting in State and County bank accounts, and still we have not found a process for housing our unsheltered residents. This lack of political courage grows from decades of political decision-making at all levels, to prioritize funding for corporations and tax breaks for the wealthy over the interests of our communities. It continues today because our systems are not broken; they do not work for all of us because they were never designed for all of us. And our systems and policies continue to place a value on the lives of low-wealth people, BIPOC people, LGBTQ+ people, and disabled people that is far lower than the lives of people with generational wealth and privilege.
Housing is a human right. Every single one of us deserves access to safe, permanent, and dignified affordable housing. Our growing population of unsheltered homelessness does not reflect a scarcity of resources, but the scarcity of the political courage required to provide housing for all of our neighbors. Further, with our current shortage of dignified affordable housing options, it is immoral to criminalize people and families for having nowhere to safely lay their heads at night.
Short-Term, Medium-Term, and Long-Term Solutions
There are many actions at all layers of government, including the Federal government, that contribute to the current crisis—from income inequality and waning workforce protections, to unaffordable or culturally insensitive healthcare, to rising rents and the over-commodification of housing.
Locally, there has been incredible progress made and I am grateful to my peers in elected offices, our staffs, nonprofit organizations, and community organizers. Coexisting with this gratitude, I also believe Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, and the State of Minnesota can and should be doing more to address the current needs at the growing tent encampments, so we can achieve desired outcomes of public health safety for our shared constituents. In the absence of treatments, therapies, or a vaccine, the best “medicine” available for us to respond to COVID-19 is stable housing and physical distancing—in order to slow the spread among our neighbors, and to prevent further strain for our healthcare workers.
In order to make sense of my view on government’s role moving forward, I offer the following recommendations as three different primary objectives, over three different timeframes.
Short-term: We need to stabilize public health and public safety conditions in tent encampments, which requires specific leadership from the City of Minneapolis.
Medium-term: We need to secure and expand supportive shelter opportunities, which requires specific leadership from Hennepin County.
Long-term: We need to build or purchase permanent and dignified affordable housing, which requires specific leadership from the State of Minnesota.
Stabilizing Conditions in Tent Encampments:
In order to stabilize tent encampments across Minneapolis, the City of Minneapolis has statutory authority in two specific areas:
Public Health: The City of Minneapolis is the lead Public Health Authority within its jurisdiction. This means that the City of Minneapolis is responsible for providing the following supports to residents in the tent encampments:
Hygiene: Portable showers, toilet access, and hand-washing stations.
Disease Prevention: Access to condoms/contraceptives, STI/Hepatitis testing, and more.
Harm Reduction: Needle exchanges, Narcan supply/distribution/training, and more.
COVID-19 Prevention: Testing, provision of hand sanitizer, face masks, support in maintaining appropriate physical distancing, and more.
Public Safety: The City of Minneapolis is also responsible for ensuring community safety within its jurisdiction. This means that the City of Minneapolis is responsible for intervening in the following ways in the tent encampments:
Sexual Violence Prevention: Providing support to people at-risk of exploitation within the camp (particularly women and children), pursuing and arresting predators, and creating open lines of communication with encampment leaders so sexual abuse and violence can be reported, documented, and addressed.
Interpersonal Violence: Providing conflict resolution and de-escalation support as well as support for people fleeing from domestic violence
Pedestrian Safety: Creating safe pedestrian access to grocery stores, social service centers, transit access, pharmacies, and more.
Given the scale of what is taking place, if the City of Minneapolis is unable to provide these supports, then leaders at the City of Minneapolis could consider formally requesting assistance from partner jurisdictions in order to meet our residents’ needs. No other jurisdiction can intervene until City leadership formally requests additional support in these areas.
Securing and Expanding Shelter:
In order to secure and expand supportive shelter options for encampment residents, shelter that is responsive and appropriate to their needs, Hennepin County needs to lead in the following ways:
Allocate additional CARES money to expand shelter capacity.
Prioritize harm reduction shelter settings to serve residents suffering from addiction, so that sobriety is not a barrier for people and their families to access shelter.
Secure shelter settings within the cities and neighborhoods that street residents are already located in.
Secure shelter settings that have a broad view of family, so that people without proper documentation of their family status or family members without blood relation can shelter together.
Improve conditions in shelter settings in order to address a troubling pattern where residents, dissatisfied with shelter conditions or safety, return to the tent encampments after being placed in temporary shelter.
For this to be successful, Hennepin County requires staff capacity support from the State of Minnesota in order to scale up shelter operations and ensure quality supportive services within these environments once they are established. Hennepin County staff leaders have made multiple formal requests to the State of Minnesota for this support over the last few months. In order to create and staff shelters to meet the need, the State of Minnesota must be clear on what they can and are willing to do.
Homelessness is a problem that affects people across the state. Our tent encampments contain many residents who were previously housed outside of Minneapolis and outside of Hennepin County. The State of Minnesota plays an important role with Hennepin County to create new shelter, by using additional state resources to support staffing such efforts.
Build and Buy Affordable Housing:
The State of Minnesota is the only jurisdiction with the capacity to fund the development of affordable housing at a scale required to meet the needs of our community. While Hennepin County and local municipalities like the City of Minneapolis have taken bold strides towards addressing the affordable housing crisis in the last few years, even our combined efforts are a drop in the bucket compared to the staggering scale of the problem.
I strongly support the Governor’s plan to finance $276 million in housing bonds for affordable housing development across Minnesota. Affordable housing serves working class families. Affordable housing serves people on fixed incomes, such as seniors or people with disabilities. Affordable housing serves people in transition stages of life, such as students or those looking for work. Affordable housing serves people in all 87 counties, and is only increasing in its importance due to the pandemic. Shelter is not a sufficient policy response to homelessness; until people can access permanent housing, homelessness will persist.
Closing
The increase in homelessness we are seeing is a result of decades of policy at every level that did not center working class people, Black people, Indegenous people, or people of color. This problem will only be solved with political courage. I am thankful to my peers in elected offices who are fighting to achieve these goals, thankful to staff who have dedicated their lives to serving our residents, and most importantly, thankful to organizers who are both serving our neighbors and elevating this issue across the community.
Without pressure on each layer of government, these actions will not happen, and that is the unfortunate reality of our situation. So I ask you to continue putting pressure on myself and Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, and the State of Minnesota to take charge of our respective roles during this crisis.