For decades, every level of gov has completely failed to address homelessness & the housing crisis. For governing bodies w power to affect change, continued failure to address is intentional acceptance of homelessness in one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest country

The Parks, the City of Mpls, Hennepin Co, & the State of MN chose to put the coordination of the Minneapolis Sanctuary sites– starting w PH– on the backs of the unsheltered residents & volunteer-led community efforts to provide safety, security, & even basic services in the parks

Despite a month+ of hearing cries to directly & humanely provide safety & coordination, when an all-volunteer effort couldnt assure the safety of hundreds of unsheltered ppl & families, the gov is responding w the only tool they know: displacement w the threat of police violence

Powderhorn Sanctuary residents & volunteers have been at risk of violence not bc of a failure of volunteers, but bc of the lack of any coordinated response by our electeds, a buildup of decades of total neglect in the area of dignified housing, & centuries of structural violence

these piecemeal efforts to “support” sanctuaries w permits, tent/park limits & promises of basic rights as water & bathrooms, masquerade as solutions, but normalize the existence of encampments, shift the burden on unpaid volunteers, dehumanize unsheltered ppl & delay solutions

International human rights law recognizes the right of all people to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing. It is unacceptable, immoral & unlawful to displace people taking refuge in parks without providing a housing alternative.

Removal under the threat and acts of violence has always been the answer of systems based in white-supremacy and wealth inequality

We will not accept racist displacement at the hands of the police as the only government response to decades of neglect.

Sanctuary volunteers are helping residents move as best as they are able, but the Park’s new permitting system is not workable, the incompetent city has no solutions, and the county and state have not accepted responsibility

We cant accept the exhausted words of “government moves slow.” There are vacant public housing units now. The county could act to purchase hotels, transition rooms to single-room-occupancy units and approve more harm reduction beds now

And the state, which has demonstrated an astonishing lack of leadership, could use CARES dollars to fund long-term solutions now

This is the legacy of Jacob Frey, of the Mpls City Council, of the Hennepin County board of commissioners, of the Mpls Park Board, of Tim Walz, of the State of Minnesota. Past and present.

It doesn’t have to be the future.

Displacement is a Disease, Housing is the Cure.