Public Safety Committee: Mayor's Encampment Release Plan – July 22, 2026
Public Safety Committee Meeting – July 22, 2026
This meeting of the Saint Paul Public Safety Committee focused on the Mayor's Encampment Release Plan, which proposes the closure of three established encampments (Pig's Eye Park, Laurent, and Shepherd Randolph) starting with Pig's Eye Park on August 5, 2026. Assistant Mayor Cedric Baker and Ramsey County Manager Ling Becker presented the city and county’s coordinated response, including assessments, service expansions, and enforcement philosophy. Council members raised questions about capacity, tracking, community engagement, and the definition of 'encampment'.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were taken because this was not a public hearing. A public hearing was scheduled for 4:30 PM later that day.
Discussion Items
- Assessment and Decision: Assistant Mayor Baker explained that the Community Safety Alignment Team (CSAT) assessed the three encampments using code enforcement, police, and fire data. The assessment showed 124 individuals at Pig's Eye Park, 35 at Laurent, and 44 at Shepherd Randolph. There were 853 first responder calls across all three encampments, including incidents of assault, weapons, drugs, death investigations, and missing persons. Contaminated land at Shepherd Randolph (former junkyard) was also cited. These factors led to the decision to close all three encampments, with Pig's Eye Park first due to its size and instability.
- County Response: County Manager Becker announced that Ramsey County executed an agreement with Catholic Charities to add 49 emergency shelter beds at Higher Ground. The county also released an RFP for housing case management services. County teams completed over 330 service engagements in the prior week, focusing on housing navigation, benefits, and resolving legal barriers. Becker noted that most nights there are some shelter beds available, but barriers (trust, documentation, warrants) prevent many from accessing shelter.
- Enforcement Philosophy: Baker emphasized that enforcement is a last resort, preceded by multiple engagements from HART, CARES, and code enforcement. The city’s goal is not to criminalize homelessness but to ensure safety. He clarified that the plan does not represent a policy change, but enforcement of existing ordinances. Council members questioned the definition of 'established encampment' versus individual tents, and how the city will handle small groups forming after closure.
- Reimagining Space: Baker mentioned the mayor’s interest in reimagining Pig's Eye Park as a dignified space, possibly with trailers or prefabricated shelters, but acknowledged this is a separate long-term conversation from the immediate safety closure. Some council members expressed skepticism about the sincerity of reimagining given the imminent closure.
- Plan B and Tracking: Council members asked about alternative plans if individuals do not accept services or if shelter capacity is insufficient on August 5. Baker stated the commitment is that everyone who wants to go inside will have a place. He noted that past closures were anticlimactic, with few individuals remaining. The city is developing a specific safety plan for those who stay. Councilmember Johnson called for tracking where individuals go, especially to prevent displacement to other encampments.
- Community and Provider Input: Councilmember Kim stressed including encampment residents and service providers in planning and measuring success, noting that the city’s ability to expand services is constrained by state moratoriums on new Medicaid providers. Councilmember Coleman raised concerns about public health risks (overdoses, infectious disease) following closures and requested information on mitigation strategies.
Key Outcomes
- Item SR 26-145 (Mayor's Encampment Release Plan) was received and filed (no formal vote).
- The council and administration committed to continued dialogue, with follow-up on specific data: ordinance citations, weekly engagement history from the county, a dashboard for tracking services, and details on the public health contingency plan.
- The city council later that day considered a resolution to transfer over $1 million to Ramsey County to support the additional shelter beds and housing case management.
- The Assistant Mayor committed to attending the 4:30 PM public hearing to receive community feedback.
Meeting Transcript
Roll call, please. Vice Chair Coleman. Here. Johnson. Joseph? Here. Kim. Here. Maker. Here. Yang. Here. Chair Bowie. Here. There are six members present, one arriving shortly. Johnson. Thank you so much, Pierre. Welcome everyone. This is the public safety committee. We have a packed house here. And I just want to say thank you so much to all my colleagues and also all of our partners and our Ramsey County partners as well as our assistant mayor making sure that we have this day possible. This is not a public hearing, so we will not be having any public uh comments from the audience that is going to be scheduled or already scheduled today at 4 30 after our city council meeting. The whole general purpose for this council, or excuse me, this public safety meeting is really for our council members to really fill the details, provide insight, perspectives, and really provide feedback to some of our partners that are leading this um encampment um transition. Also, Assistant Mayor and the Mayor's office have already provided responses to some of those questions. There's gonna be more, obviously, that comes. So even what's limited on the presentation, please feel free to ask questions for follow-ups as well. So uh we're just gonna get straight into it. So Pierre, if you mind uh reading item number one, please. Now reading into the record, item number one, SR 26 145, Mayor's encampment release plan. Wonderful. So if we can uh welcome Assistant Mayor Cedric Baker uh to the mic. Um and also um uh Sister Mayor, before you get started, if you can just share and clarify who all is here to present um, you know, on behalf of the county, if there's any other community organizations present that we should acknowledge today. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, uh Chair Bowie, members of the committee. Uh the only other person here is uh council manager Ling Becker that will be speaking with me and providing perspectives from Ramsey County. Um outside of that, uh we did have a request in, but um our heart team members are out doing the work right now, so uh my goal is to uh speak, do my best to speak on their behalf. Um and if we cannot get the information that you need today, we will definitely get it to you. Okay. And also we see there's not any presentation materials provided from the county. Um can we ensure that we have follow-ups with some of the um materials that we cover after? Uh uh Chair Bowie. What we plan to do in our presentation is really highlight what to expect, and my goal is for County Manager Becker to really explain uh what they're doing and what they plan to do in the future. Okay, thank you. Okay, uh again, Chair Bowie, members of the committee, thank you so much for this time. I am grateful for this opportunity to provide you with some information about our coordinated response to unsheltered homelessness and specifically our um encampments here in the city. Uh this presentation is an opportunity um for the mayor's office to explain uh to plan to explain, excuse me, our plan and also really to acknowledge the complexity of this topic because it's hard. The goal is to provide more insight into how we arrived at this moment, insight into our coordination efforts, and what you can expect moving forward. So this is the agenda for my time with you. I want to talk a little bit about their background and then the assessment that was taken to get to this moment. Excuse me, uh County Manager Becker to come up and present with me.
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