The Minneapolis City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday whether to begin crafting three proposed ordinances to change the city’s approach to homeless encampments.
This comes after the city evicted Camp Nenookaasi, an encampment for the unhoused in south Minneapolis, three times between January 4 and February 1, forcing the camp to relocate each time.
One of the proposed ordinances would develop regulated “safe outdoor spaces” or individualized outdoor shelter options for unhoused people. Another would create a public health response to encampments by providing health and sanitation supplies. The third would require the city to provide detailed reporting on encampments, such as tracking what happens to unhoused individuals.
The council will vote at its 9:30 a.m. meeting whether to allow the ordinances’ co-authors and city staff to craft the proposed ordinances more fully. If that process moves forward, the proposed ordinances would eventually be presented to a city committee, which would make amendments to the ordinances and hold hearings to gather public input before the ordinances’ language are finalized. The full City Council would then take a final vote 0n whether to pass them.