The Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance requiring the city to report data on homeless encampment removals to increase transparency and address the root causes of homelessness. 

The encampment reporting ordinance passed with a veto-proof nine-to-four vote on Sept. 19. 

The ordinance requires the city to report data on homeless encampment removals, including all information on the encampment’s location, removal plan and information on how people who lived at those encampments were affected by its removal. 

Council Member Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12) said in a statement to the Minnesota Daily that the ordinance is part of the commitment to reducing homelessness the city council implied when they declared homelessness a public health emergency in 2023. 

“We need good data to make informed decisions and create the necessary solutions,” Chowdhury said in the statement. 

Chowdhury said encampment removals in the city have had little oversight or transparency in the past. 

“For years, the public and policymakers have not known accurately how city resources are spent or used on evictions and have not been able to understand what happens to the unhoused person in an encampment that has been evicted,” Chowdhury said in the statement.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who approved the ordinance on Saturday, said in a statement to the Minnesota Daily that the majority of the ordinance contains actions the city was already doing while ignoring the reality of homeless encampments.

“What it doesn’t do is address the fact that encampments are dangerous and inhumane,” Frey said in the statement. “While the Council is focused on procedural tweaks and making it harder to close encampments, my administration is focused on expanding access to shelter, combating the fentanyl epidemic and continuing our nation-leading affordable housing work.”

The ordinance does not prevent encampment removals but dictates that quarterly reports must be made on any removals that do take place.

While encampment removals in Minneapolis are not new, some have continued to make headlines like Camp Nenookasi and The Wall of Forgotten Natives encampment. According to data from the city, there are around 250 people living in the 32 active homeless encampments throughout the city.

The reports must include other information, like if another encampment had been removed there or within a mile in the past year, how long the encampment was there and the start-to-finish timeline of the removal.

By understanding factors like how much time and money is spent on removing encampments, the city can more effectively come up with solutions, Chowdhury said in the statement.

“I want to understand how much of these resources can be used differently to get to the root of the problem to reduce unsheltered homelessness instead of this whack-a-mole approach,” Chowdhury said. 

The ordinance also calls for the reports to include how many people were displaced by the removal, what housing or shelter options were available, if these options were accessible and the number of people arrested during removal. 

Additionally, the quarterly report must include if people were given notice before the removal took place, if there was an offering to store their belongings and if people were offered housing, Chowdhury said in the statement.

“Unhoused people are humans and the impact of encampment evictions on them is not well documented by the City of Minneapolis,” Chowdhury said. 

Encampments are the result of an uncoordinated plan to reduce homelessness, in addition to a growing housing crisis, the lack of a rapid rehousing plan and the lack of an action-oriented plan to combat the opioid epidemic, Chowdhury said in the statement. 

“This ordinance is a step forward to help the City Council form these solutions and have oversight of a practice that isn’t addressing the root causes of unsheltered homelessness or reducing homelessness,” Chowdhury said.