Activists and city employees faced off in some tense moments Wednesday, as crews moved to clear St. Paul’s largest homeless encampment, at Pig’s Eye Park.
Crews in fluorescent yellow vests arrived at the encampment early in the morning, where some residents and their tents still remained.
Just before 8 a.m., a worker attempted to enter the camp driving a skid steer, but protestors blocked its path with a sofa. About a dozen people stood in front of it, chanting “leave them alone,” and “let them stay.” The worker eventually turned the skid steer around and left.
Later in the morning when more city staff tried to enter the camp, including the city’s neighborhood safety director, activists stood around them, demanding they leave.
St. Paul Council Member HwaJeong Kim, who was at the encampment Wednesday, said she helped to broker an agreement with city officials to hold off on bringing more heavy equipment or police officers onto the site while volunteers were helping camp residents move their belongings. City staff and outreach workers remained to help residents move from the camp.
“We’re sort of operating in good faith with this agreement around having access for volunteers, access for trucks, and giving residents a little more time,” she said. “How much time is unclear.”
Kim said many residents are moving to the James Avenue encampment near Randolph Avenue and Shepherd Road. But residents worry that site will soon be cleared too.
“This is not the solution,” Kim said of the encampment sweep. “And the reason why I decided to show up today is, in spite of it being a really harmful strategy, whatever amount of care we can provide in this moment, and how do we ease a … transition into housing is kind of where we can plug in.”
Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker said in a news conference midday Wednesday that the closure was moving “slow and steady,” and estimated that about 20 to 30 people were still in the camp. He said some residents are accepting shelter services.
“We understand that this is a process, and we want to respect and make sure that there is a strong level of dignity that we have for the individuals at the encampment,” he said.
Baker said the city is discouraging residents from moving to another encampment.
In July, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her’s administration announced that it planned to clear the city’s three largest encampments, starting with Pig’s Eye on Wednesday. The Mayor’s Office has not released dates for closing the James Avenue or L’Orient encampments.
“It’s just trauma, unnecessary trauma, and it’s going to be repeated,” state Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, who was also onsite Wednesday, said of encampment closures.
The Pig’s Eye sweep is the first major St. Paul encampment closure in more than a year. City crews cleared the Bruce Vento encampment in January 2025, which led many residents to migrate to the Pig’s Eye site,
At the time the city announced the planned closure, it said the Pig’s Eye encampment had about 140 residents, but community organizers estimated that the population was higher, at potentially more than 200 residents.
Her’s administration has said the encampments must close due to safety concerns, and that in the past year, first responders were dispatched to Pig’s Eye Park more than 100 times for incidents including medical emergencies, fires and assaults.
“The conditions at Pig’s Eye Park have become too dangerous for the people living there and for the surrounding community. We cannot accept that as the status quo,” Her said in a news release sent Tuesday evening.
The announcement to clear the encampments drew immediate scrutiny from community members and some elected officials, who expressed concern that camp residents have nowhere else to go. About two dozen community members testified at a St. Paul City Council public hearing Tuesday, imploring the city to not close the camp this week.
“The looming question is … Where are people supposed to go? That hasn’t been answered,” Justin Lewandowski, executive director of Open Hands Midway, told Sahan Journal.
Emergency shelters already near capacity
According to Ramsey County, more than 1,400 single adults are on the priority waiting list for coordinated entry, which connects people experiencing homelessness to housing.
Some shelters in the city say they are already near capacity, and that they do not believe there are enough beds to accommodate all encampment residents.
Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities, which provides emergency shelter to men, had about 20 to 25 beds available as of Monday, according to Sarah Peterka, the organization’s community relations director. She said she does not believe there are enough shelter beds in the city to accommodate all of the camp residents.
Therese Gales, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, said the Higher Ground shelter in downtown St. Paul is “consistently at or above capacity each night.”
The city allocated more than $1 million to Ramsey County late last month for additional shelter beds, which will open up 49 beds at Catholic Charities Higher Ground shelter by Aug. 5.
Peterka said some camp residents may not feel comfortable going to an emergency shelter for various reasons, such as having a partner or pet they don’t want to be separated from. Some might have had a previous negative experience at a shelter.
“We have to give these people some grace and allow them to choose what they want to do,” Peterka said.
Finke emphasized that emergency shelter beds, even if there were enough of them, are not a solution to encampments. Without more long-term housing options, people will continue to face homelessness.
“This will hurt people. It will probably cost lives,” she said of the encampment sweeps.
Kat Turner, who leads Rising Waters Mutual Aid, is concerned about the Pig’s Eye eviction and the future encampment sweeps that are expected to take place soon. Turner said mutual aid groups have been scrambling to get people the help they need.
“I don’t know that there are enough resources in this city to get people what they are going to need to survive this,” they said.
Camp residents unsure where to go next
Several residents of the encampment at Pig’s Eye Park said on Tuesday that they don’t know where to go next, but that they will likely move to another encampment in the city.
Joshua Yang, who has lived in the Pig’s Eye camp for several months, worries that the next encampment he moves to will eventually be cleared out by the city as well.
“We’re kind of up in the air right now,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”
Camp residents Isaac Thomas and his partner Samie Lund said they have been connected to housing through Radias Health, but are waiting to hear when they can move into their apartment. In the meantime, they plan on going to another encampment.
They said it’s frustrating that the city is going to clear the encampment when there isn’t enough housing available.
“I honestly don’t think the city cares,” Thomas said.
Javier Saldana has lived in Pig’s Eye for about a year and a half, and was previously at another encampment. He said he isn’t sure where he’s going to go next.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
