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The Minneapolis homeless encampment that sprung up almost overnight in August near Hiawatha and Franklin Avenue reflected how city officials and American Indian leaders made a deliberate decision to embrace the encampment as part of a wider community effort to combat homelessness. Instead of clearing the site, as most other cities have, a coalition of city, county and American Indian agencies launched a massive outreach effort to deliver housing assistance, medical care and other social services. By the time the encampment ended in December, it had grown to become one of the largest homeless settlements ever seen in the state.