Last Thursday, January 4, town of Minneapolis evicted the biggest homeless encampment in South Minneapolis, referred to as Camp Nenookaasi. The camp, which is majority Native American, was situated within the Phillips neighborhood on the intersection of twenty third Street and thirteenth Avenue. 

The encampment was originally slated to be closed in December, but town delayed the closure, saying it needed more time to coordinate with its housing and mental-health service partners. 

In an announcement on its website, Avivo, one in every of town’s housing partners, said the January 4 Camp Nenookaasi eviction was still too soon, and that it supported one other delay.

“Encampment evictions are an inhumane and ineffective solution to unsheltered homelessness,” Avivo said in an announcement on its website. “The planned eviction on January 4 places residents at higher risk.”

Town cited crime, including a shooting in December, and a criticism letter from Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID) as the explanations for evicting the encampment. Thursday’s eviction happened despite a federal class-action lawsuit filed against Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, asking for a direct court order to stop the eviction. 

Residents who filed the suit alleged that encampment evictions violate the constitutional rights of Minneapolis’ homeless population. Judge Eric Tostrud found that a camp eviction wouldn’t violate residents’ constitutional rights.

Town plans to construct the “Mikwanedun Audisookon Art and Wellness Center,” an Indigenous-led community center, on the location where the encampment was situated. Town is hoping to interrupt ground for the middle after the sale next month of the land parcel. Before the eviction of Camp Nenookaasi began, residents had already began establishing a brand new encampment situated 4 blocks away at twenty sixth Street and 14th Avenue.

Activists heavily criticized the eviction for going down in winter, when there have been not enough shelter beds available in Hennepin County to shelter the camp’s population. Eighty shelter beds were available Wednesday night, however the camp’s population was estimated to be double that number, at 160. Town says 19 Camp Nenookaasi residents were transported to shelter services on the day of the closure.

Not all people staying within the camp were inquisitive about the shelter system. Many didn’t need to be split up from the community that they had found at Camp Nenookaasi. One camp resident, Marissa (who didn’t give her last name), called town’s assistance with housing “inconsistent.” 

Marissa said that she was speculated to get a lease on an apartment the day of the eviction, but her caseworker never showed up. She says one other camp resident’s promised housing move-in date was pushed back for months.

“We feel forgotten,” Marissa said. “We’re still humans too, you understand. And we are attempting to make it.”

Probability Askenekte, who had been living at Camp Nenookaasi, said that it was difficult for a lot of homeless people to search out housing on account of evictions or felony records. Askenekte said he had moved between seven different camps prior to now yr and compared town’s current eviction policies with playing whack-a-mole.

“If all of us had housing, there wouldn’t be no homeless encampment,” Askenekte said.

A coalition of camp residents, activists, Native American leaders, politicians, and outreach service providers held a press conference outside the camp condemning the choice to proceed with the eviction and called for higher encampment response policies. Some outreach employees said that current encampment policies sometimes caused them to lose track of clients, making it harder to get them housed.

Sam Strong, secretary of the Red Lake Nation, criticized the federal government for not keeping its treaty obligations to Native Americans, and for not doing enough to offer housing, education, and health care to Native American communities. 

“It’s necessary that we don’t consider [issues facing Native Americans] as just here in Camp Nenookaasi, since it’s all across the state,” Strong said. “It’s in Duluth. It’s in Bemidji. It’s on the reservations. 

“[Native Americans] are essentially the most forgotten and marginalized people in your complete country. Now we have the best homelessness rate. Now we have the best rate of educational disparities, the bottom attainment for higher education. And why is that this? Because [the government’s] guarantees weren’t kept.”

Nicole Mason, one in every of the founders of Camp Nenookaasi, said the eviction was not a loss since the community got here together. “Whether it’s here or some other place. I’m not going anywhere,” Mason said. “I’ll proceed to live with the relatives until we’re living in everlasting housing.”

Mason, together with Red Lake Nation leaders, met with Mayor Frey on Friday. After the meeting, Mason tweeted that the parties “are working on next steps to helping the people through healing and culture.”