9-16-20 Superintendent Bangoura Encampment Remarks

President Cowgill and Commissioners

Staff continue to work to implement Resolution 2020-267, which was unanimously approved by the Board in mid-July. As of yesterday, there are an estimated 347 tents at 22 park sites, down from 380 tents at the last Board meeting on September 2.

As I’ve reported over the past three months, I and other park leadership staff have been meeting regularly with our city, county and state partners that have clear and defined responsibility for addressing homelessness. As reported at the last Board meeting, letters were sent to these partners last month requesting assistance and housing or shelter for those living in park encampments before the weather turns cold.

Yesterday I provided commissioners with an update on progress toward moving encampment occupants into shelter and housing suitable for winter conditions, as directed in Resolution 2020-267. The update has been posted on our encampment web page at www.minneapolisparks.org/encampments.

Tonight, I will highlight a few key points included in the update.

• In response to our letter, President Cowgill and I received a September 4 letter from Governor Walz. He addressed funding for housing and homelessness in response to COVID-19, including $23 million directed to Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, the Park Board and nonprofits operating within the county and city. To date, the Park Board has received almost $170,000 in Minnesota Emergency Response Funds. The Walz letter references other resources that have been directed to housing and homelessness, the allocation of CARES Act Emergency Solutions Grant funds, and the lack of a request for new emergency shelter capacity in a joint response from the city and county for CARES Act ESG funds. The letter also references MPRB Resolution 2020-253 which designated parks as a refuge for individuals experiencing homelessness, noting that it is significant to the extent of encampments that have occurred in Minneapolis parks. The letter concludes with a reference to the Governor’s proposal to direct $260 million in housing focused investments in his bonding recommendations, which is currently held up in the legislature.

 

• The Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness has several State activities underway that support expanded shelter and housing capacity, including millions of dollars in State funding to support new protective spaces, outreach, staffing and supplies, as well as hotel-to-home opportunities in the Twin Cities. Applications for funding supporting the hotel-to-home model are still currently available for qualified providers. The State is also partnering with the county and city to support the new shelter to open in early December that will be operated by the American Indian Community Development Corporation.

 

• The City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County are partnering on a number of initiatives. In addition to the emergency shelter opening in December for the City’s Native American population, a facility serving medically frail homeless individuals is expected to open next year and a temporary 30-bed women’s shelter may open this winter prior to a permanent site next year. They have also provided additional women’s shelter beds at the Simpson Housing’s shelter and are providing funding to ensure that existing emergency shelters can remain open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week in a COVID safe manner for the next two years.

The city, county and state continue to explore possibilities for other projects and initiatives to bring shelter beds online for the winter. Provider capacity has been, and continues to be, one of the biggest challenges in bringing more capacity online.

Partner agency insights relative to shelter and housing opportunities also suggest the pool of available opportunities is growing more limited as the weather becomes colder.

On September 8, following the first cold weather of the season, Hennepin County reported that there were no beds for single adult males, 12 beds available for single adult women, and 21 family shelter rooms available. Numbers vary from day to day. As of this afternoon, Hennepin County reports 14 single adult beds for men, 15 single adult beds for women, and 39 family rooms for those with children.

Resolution 2020-267 states “sheltering homeless people in Minneapolis parks is not a safe, proper or dignified form of housing and is, at best, a temporary solution for encampment individuals before cold weather arrives.”

Complicating the shortage of available shelter opportunities is the anticipated date of opening of cold weather shelters, which is typically in December according to our partners. From the perspective of park encampments, the cold weather noted above is already present and leaves encamped individuals exposed to the cold weather for at least ten weeks. Cold weather poses a threat to those experiencing homelessness even when temperatures seem mild. Hypothermia can set in when temperatures drop below 50 degrees, but many shelters don’t open until it’s much colder, according to information provided by the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council.

Complicating the current situation, the MPRB does not allow open fires or the use of propane as a fuel for a fire in parks. As a result, the potential for generating heat is very limited for those encamped in Minneapolis parks. Allowing the use of fuels for fire or to create warmth poses great risk for encamped persons and for park assets. The use of firewood poses a similar danger not only for the risk of fire but also by introducing diseased wood into park areas. One common way to spread diseases which affect trees is through the use of firewood. The Park Board spends millions of dollars each year to protect the urban forest and firewood is a real and direct threat to that asset. Park Board staff firmly believes that the onset of cold weather should result in a disbandment of remaining encampments during October with the primary goal of protecting those encamped individuals from cold weather.

MPRB outreach staff are informing those living in temporary park encampments that they will not be able to stay in the parks once cold weather arrives and stays, which staff predicts will be in October. Staff will continue to work with their counterparts at the city, county, and state to move those currently encamped in Minneapolis parks to available shelter so that the least possible encamped individuals remain in Minneapolis parks on the date determined for disbandment.

Superintendent Bangoura