For the past two months, Jennessey Roberts has risen before dawn every day to prepare breakfast for about 180 Camp Nenookaasi occupants. She tries to have coffee and oatmeal ready by 6 a.m.

Last Wednesday, for the first time, Roberts witnessed city crews clearing a different Minneapolis encampment, near Nicollet Avenue and W. 29th Street. She cried.

“It was traumatizing to me,” she said. “And I was so heartbroken.”

Although she has experienced homelessness sporadically over the past 13 years, Roberts said she was able to secure a spot in a shelter or housing before the encampment clearings.

Camp Nenookaasi is expected to be the next homeless encampment cleared by crews authorized by Minneapolis city officials. That action is expected on Thursday, December 14. Activists and camp occupants are pouring their energies into efforts to stop the scheduled clearing, including a march and pleas to city officials.

Many Camp Nenookaasi occupants moved there from the Wall of Forgotten Natives, along Hiawatha Avenue (Highway 55), after it was cleared in August. Camp Nenookaasi is located near the Phillips Community Center, on 13th Avenue S. and E. 23th Street. Eighty-nine percent of its occupants are Native and 7 percent are Black, according to the camp’s Instagram account.

Since August, the camp has evolved to include 15 yurts to keep occupants warm, two large tents for a kitchen and “healing” space, and daily food deliveries.

Christin Crabtree, a camp organizer, said 76 occupants have been housed elsewhere.

“It takes forever to get into housing. There are so many hoops that people have to jump through,” she said. “That process is disrupted by the evictions that our government does.”

        “It takes forever to get into housing. There are so many hoops that people have to jump through. The process is disrupted by the evictions that our government does.”
    Christin Crabtree, Camp Nenookaasi organizer 


  

About nine months ago, Roberts said, she lost her apartment because of a dispute with a landlord, which led her to live “on and off” at the Wall of Forgotten Natives. When city crews cleared that encampment in August, Roberts, along with many other Native people, moved to Camp Nenookaasi.

Roberts said she got sober while living at the camp after a couple of months of struggling with addiction.

“I was feeling like I couldn’t do it. I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’ And they were just here. They call it a Healing Camp. And it is. I really believe it,” Roberts said. “We have all sorts of different medicines, and everything that helped us, like Native American medications, played a big role in it.”

She hopes to continue helping occupants and that the city will call off the scheduled clearing. Concerns about health and safety

The city’s approach to clearing homeless encampments has faced scrutiny as activists pressure city officials to change practices.

In an email to Sahan Journal, a city spokesperson said that the decision to close Camp Nenookaasi came because of “ongoing public safety and public health issues.”

“Homeless encampments are illegal in Minneapolis and pose significant safety and public health risks to unsheltered people and surrounding communities,” the spokesperson said.

Some neighbors have expressed concerns about crime in the area. The city spokesperson said police reports show incidents have happened at the camp or nearby, including the death of a fetus and an overdose-related death.

“Staff are constantly assessing and reassessing decisions—and the closure of this encampment is no different. These decisions are informed by leading experts from multiple City departments, and prioritize the safety of the people both in the encampment and in the surrounding neighborhood. We are also listening to Native leaders who, in this case, have been demanding the City take this action for months,” a city spokesperson representing Mayor Jacob Frey’s office said.

        “[Camp-clearing] decisions are informed by leading experts … and prioritize the safety of the people both in the encampment and in the surrounding neighborhoods.” 
    —a spokesperson for the city of Minneapolis


  

Two tribal organizations, the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis and the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors, have issued statements advocating the clearing of Camp Nenookaasi.

“Over the last several weeks and months, leaders from MUID organizations have reported many of these crimes and concerns to city and county officials, which has not resulted in any improvement, while the situation continues to deteriorate and become more and more of a threat. This is unacceptable,” read the statement from the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors.

Camp organizers responded in an Instagram post: “MUID’s letter called for an eviction—the continuation of a violent cycle that will scatter nearly 200 people while worsening the harm that this camp formed to address. The letter has inaccuracies and inflammatory claims.”

The statement also addressed police reports: “There have been no overdoses at Nenookaasi, where sobriety support is a priority. Lack of access to reproductive health [care] can result in tragedy and we are disappointed to see MUID weaponize that tragedy.”

After the clearing notice was posted on December 5, eight City Council members issued a joint statement in response. It requested a delay in the camp’s clearing until February 16 to meet the health needs for camp occupants and surrounding community, and to provide an opportunity for the council members to work on solutions with Frey.

“It’s impossible to transition the remaining 180+ residents to a permanent home or long-term shelter in a week,” the council members’ statement said. “Camp Nenookaasi residents and the community members supporting them have been clear: They need more time and resources to get the residents living in Camp Nenookaasi into permanent housing, not a permanent delay of a future closure.”

A city spokesperson said that city staffers have been working with service providers and agencies “to minimize the risk of shifting encampment occupants to a new location once this encampment closes.”