Homeless residents of Minneapolis' Camp Nenookaasi were ordered to vacate after a federal judge ruled against halting the city’s clearance plan, as reported by Axios. The East Phillips neighborhood site, home to approximately 150 inhabitants, was deemed unsafe by city officials who argued for immediate closure citing the presence of fatal incidents and numerous health and safety-related 911 calls over the last four months. Despite the residents’ fears of having no alternative for shelter and their lawyer, Kira Kelley, claiming their displacement breaches the constitutional prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment," Judge Eric C. Tostrud found Minneapolis' situation unlike the Ninth Circuit's Boise ruling, which had served as precedent in nine Western states; Minneapolis lacks a criminal offense for sleeping outside on public property, setting apart the Nenookaasi case.
Camp Nenookaasi's troubling history includes a shooting, the tragic death of a newborn baby, and a drug overdose, as well as health emergencies that led to more than 100 911 calls, which were substantial factors in the city's intervention. According to the Axios report, although the camp's residents say they were offered other shelter services a fact that stands in stark juxtaposition to the argument that no safer sleeping places exist by Kelley and her clients they're in search of a lasting resolution.
Meanwhile, the residents of the recently dismantled Camp Nenookaasi have relocated a few blocks away, and according to a CBS Minnesota interview, Nicole Mason, who has spent the last five months documenting and later joining the encampment's life, emphasizes the critical nature of the community they have created. Mason highlighted the encampment's daily struggles with addiction, with "98 percent of the people who live here are currently, I'd say, 90 percent are using fentanyl," yet also the level of support, including life-saving interventions with Narcan which she notes has saved 30 lives in the last five months and the collective efforts toward establishing a permanent treatment center in the city.
Notwithstanding the legal and logistical challenges, Mason and her newfound family among the yurts and ceremonial flames of Minneapolis' displaced stand resolved, she has declared that she and the residents "My self and my friends, we're not going anywhere," as she told CBS Minnesota, affirming their commitment to remain intact as a community until a proposed culturally-based healing center is realized to address not only their immediate need for shelter but the underlying issue of addiction that grips so many of its members.
