Minnesota Cities Are Exploring Laws to Ban Public Camping

Following a SCOTUS ruling allowing cities to ban camping in public spaces—even when there are no available shelters—two Minnesota cities are exploring the option.

Brainerd and Duluth have both recently proposed laws banning public camping, and Rochester has had a similar law in place since this spring. St. Cloud, on the other hand, has had such a law in place for decades.

Last month, when the Brainerd City Council first began discussing the ban, Council Member Mike O’Day stated, “This is the best (solution) that we can come up with at this time.”

He continued, “The solution isn’t to punish people for being homeless; it’s to encourage them to get help. And we have a lot of that in place right now. I know we have some good programs with them. But this gives our police department a little bit more tools for enforcement.”

Meanwhile in Duluth, lawmakers hope to make public camping violations into misdemeanors—they are currently petty misdemeanors, on par with a parking ticket. However, if violations become proper misdemeanors the punishment moves from a $300 fine and no jail time to an $1,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail.

Duluth leaders claim to believe that this strategy will actually provide them with more ways to help the unhoused and additional resources.

“Without a misdemeanor option, those things [resources] are really off the table for us,” Police Chief Mike Ceynowa explained. “So this is not about criminalizing these people, but it is about working with behaviors that make us all feel less safe within our community, to include people who are on our margins, who are struggling day to day.”

Critics are quick to point out that these laws specifically target unhoused encampment communities, and create added challenges for shelter providers—many of whom don’t have the space or staff to operate overnight shelters. 

Additionally, the bans are pushing unhoused people to the outskirts of cities and into wooded areas, making it more difficult for them to access needed resources and causing problems for organizations providing aid to find those who need help.

Laws that seek to criminalize unhoused people are popping up in cities throughout the country. They set a dangerous precedent for cities to rely on their police to enforce the ban, rather than creating more opportunities to offer resources to people in crisis.

These bans could also, potentially, result in cities allotting less money in their budgets for public health and affordable housing, while giving additional funds to police departments.