A high volume of calls for service and a more precarious mood led to a swift closure of the Minneapolis homeless encampment known as "Camp Nenookaasi" on Thursday, 48 hours after campers relocated from just blocks away.
It was the second time this week the city closed the camp after shuttering another iteration of Nenookaasi on Tuesday at E. 26th Street and 14th Avenue S.
"This situation just felt different. The safety concerns and the potential for violence was just too high," Minneapolis Office of Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette said at a news conference Thursday.
The new encampment was on a city-owned residential lot in the 2200 block of 16th Avenue. The camp was between two homes, leaving neighbors facing safety concerns.
In the last 30 days, there was one 911 call to the area of the last encampment. In the last 48 hours, there were seven 911 calls for the area of the new encampment for property damage, property theft and campfires, Barnette said.
While there may be 20 or 50 people at a large encampment at night, in daytime hours they invite others to come in and it can swell to 100 people or more, he said.
"The city is not making decisions to close encampments without consideration for what this means for those individuals who are experiencing homelessness, the impact that it has on our surrounding residents or what it means to try to connect people to services," Barnette said.
Still, the city cannot arrest its way out of homelessness and is continuing to focus on connecting people in encampments to utilize addiction, housing and mental health services, Barnette said.
"I can't speak for the people who did not accept services, but that doesn't mean that we don't keep trying," he said. "My experience has been that you keep on making that attempt."
