City working to reduce
encampments amid rising homelessness

City working to reduce encampments amid rising homelessness
By Jake Spitzack | Staff Writer | November 2024

According to a recent survey, there are half the number of homeless encampments (tent cities) in St. Paul compared to three years ago, yet the number of people living in them is on the rise. Since 2021, the city of St. Paul’s Homeless Action Response Team (HART) has reduced the number of encampments from 68 to 27 and helped 125 unsheltered people find housing. However, despite its efforts, the number of people living in encampments has managed to increase from about 150 to just over 200, indicating there’s still much work to be done. Now, with winter just around the corner, new HART program coordinator Kahari Smith-Brewer and his 4-member team are diligently working to help homeless people find suitable shelter or prepare for the challenges that come with the cold. In addition to providing hand warmers and clothing, they inform unsheltered people about fire safety, as it becomes a top concern when tents are pushed closer together for warmth, increasing the possibility that all will ignite if one catches on fire.

Smith-Brewer is assisted by two outreach workers and two inspectors from the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, which oversees the program. The team visits each encampment at least twice a week to perform extensive cleaning and provide occupants with resources to help get them on track to find appropriate shelter. They refer them to nonprofit organizations and shelters, although many require applicants to be considered long-term homeless to be eligible, meaning they’ve either had four instances of homelessness in three years or have been unsheltered for one year or longer. Additionally, applicants often must undergo a housing assessment.

The HART also coordinates on-site mental health assessments and on-site medical interventions, assists homeless people’s animals, provides resources regarding domestic abuse, violence and more, and helps people prepare for impending encampment closures. Smith-Brewer said people at encampments will occasionally approach his team for help, but typically they are following up with the same individuals to see if they’re following through with plans to obtain housing, or simply continuing to inform them of the latest helpful resources.

“We do run into some individuals who are content with not receiving any assistance,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t want to receive assistance because they attempted to receive assistance in the past and nothing happened, so they just think that the system doesn’t quite work the way that they want it to…  We don’t get them very often, but we get some people who are pretty adamant in saying, ‘no, I’m fine where I am. I’m a camper. I live outdoors. I love the wilderness.”

HART launched in late 2021 in response to a historic spike in homelessness in 2020 which was attributed to lack of affordable housing. From February to May that year, the number of homeless encampments in the city rose from 7 to 68 and the number of people in them from 17 to 157. The City’s guiding principle for the HART is that encampments do not provide a safe, healthy or secure living environment. Additionally, one goal is to decrease the number of calls to encampments by emergency responders and law enforcement officers, and help maintain safety for city residents, many of whom have witnessed crimes by homeless people and feel unsafe when required to travel by encampments located near their work or residence.

Smith-Brewer said there are many circumstances that lead people to being unsheltered and that there’s not a one size fits all solution to helping them.

“It’s not throwing more money at it,” he said. “It’s not forcing them into shelter, because that is not an environment everybody wants to be in. It’s not pressuring them into treatment, because they’re most likely not going to stay there if it’s not their choice. It’s really just understanding that these individuals are individuals, and you can only help them when you understand them.”

Since January this year, the number of people at encampments has risen from 120-203. As of September, there were 153 males and 47 females living in 180 tents. Smith-Brewer was formerly an outreach worker with the HART, and with his promotion and the departure of the other outreach worker, they’re working to fill those two outreach positions as soon as possible.

Residents seeking to support the HART program can donate items such as bus cards or tokens, bottles of water, nonperishable snacks, and garbage bags. To report concerning conditions in an encampment, call the City’s information and complaint line at 651-266-8989. For more information, visit stpaul.gov and search “HART.”

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