For months, Alpha News has been reporting on a growing illegal homeless encampment in St. Paul that backs up to the luxury Waterford Bay Apartments, where residents have reported widespread drug use, trespassing, public urination and defecation, apparent animal abuse and suspected gunfire amid hundreds of police calls.
But lately, it’s the fires — and the smoke that comes with them — that have residents increasingly alarmed.
Instead of throwing open their windows to enjoy Minnesota’s crisp fall weather, some residents say they’re shutting themselves inside, running their air conditioners and trying to keep the smell of burning garbage, plastic and rubber from seeping into their apartments.
Over the weekend, fires burning in the woods behind the complex sent smoke and haze toward the building and prompted repeated visits from the St. Paul Fire Department. On Saturday, one resident told Alpha News firefighters responded five times within a 90-minute span.
A day later, fire trucks were back several times, as a thick haze hung over the parking lot in a photo the resident sent to Alpha News.
“This ain’t fog or humidity. This is what we are breathing in,” he said. “It stinks. It’s 58 degrees with beautiful fall weather, and I have my AC running to prevent me having windows open so I don’t smell it.”
By Sunday night, some residents weren’t just closing their windows. They were leaving their apartments.
Several tenants reportedly planned to spend the night in the building’s community room because the air there was better than in their west-facing units.
And residents say another possible solution — air purifiers — isn’t coming, either. They told Alpha News that Waterford Bay management denied a request for air purifiers.
Alpha News reached out to the St. Paul Fire Department and Greystar, which manages Waterford Bay Apartments, about the fires but did not receive a response before publication.
City officials meet with Waterford Bay residents
Days earlier, residents got city and county officials and representatives from organizations that serve the homeless in the same room to discuss the situation and seek answers about what happens next.
Several Waterford Bay residents who attended the Sept. 23 community meeting told Alpha News that officials “hope” to have the encampment closed by the end of the year.
Some residents told Alpha News it seemed representatives from the various organizations and government agencies blamed nearly everyone and everything except the people living in the encampment for the situation unfolding there.
They said Ramsey County Manager Ling Becker invoked President Donald Trump’s name several times during the meeting, leaving at least one resident with the impression that Trump was being blamed, at least in part, for the homelessness challenges facing St. Paul.
Alpha News asked Ramsey County to clarify Becker’s remarks and explain what, if anything, Trump’s legislation had to do with resources for the homeless inside the encampment.
A county spokesperson told Alpha News that Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill affects programs administered by Ramsey County, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but acknowledged that it “does not directly cut homelessness services.”
Access to these benefits is “an important part of helping people remain stable, prevent homelessness, and secure housing,” the spokesperson said.
The county did not identify any direct federal funding cut preventing officials from addressing the encampment near Randolph Avenue and Shepard Road and said a shortage of shelter beds is not preventing more people from being moved out.
In fact, money had already been committed to expanding shelter capacity.
A document distributed by City Council President Rebecca Noecker’s office says she supported a city partnership with Ramsey County that allocated $1.08 million for emergency shelter operations ahead of planned encampment closures. That included $200,000 to support 49 additional shelter beds at Catholic Charities’ Higher Ground and another $880,000 for emergency shelter beds at additional locations.
Even so, a Catholic Charities representative described the organization as a “toolbox that is running out of tools” and said it can be difficult for “unhoused people” to access available resources, according to a resident who attended the meeting.
However, despite the shelter beds, housing assistance and myriad other services available, some residents told Alpha News they believe some people don’t want to enter shelters because living in the encampment allows them to continue using drugs without shelter rules or restrictions.
Issues persist at Waterford Bay
While officials debate what happens next, residents say the problems outside their homes have only intensified since the Aug. 5 closure of the Pig’s Eye Park homeless encampment and the influx of people to Randolph that followed.
St. Paul police recorded 385 calls for service at or near the Randolph encampment between Aug. 5 and Sept. 29, including six shots-fired calls. Police said one was determined to be fireworks.
In videos provided to Alpha News, people in the encampment can be seen shining flashlights into residents’ windows, climbing a fence separating the woods from the Waterford Bay parking lot — including one person who becomes stuck on the fence — and entering the apartment complex’s property.
In another video, a man appears to remove a padlock from a gate separating the apartment complex’s private parking lot from the encampment before entering the lot, where the resident filming said he began looking into vehicles and jiggling door handles.
Encampment spans multiple properties
Another obstacle discussed at the meeting was the question of who controls the land the encampment sits on.
The site crosses a patchwork of properties owned or controlled by multiple entities, including the city of St. Paul, Xcel Energy, the St. Paul Port Authority and Union Pacific Railroad.
“They can move 10 feet and be on someone else’s land,” a resident said of the complicated property lines.
A year-end goal, but no concrete plan
Embattled St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who is being sued along with the city by Police Chief Axel Henry over allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation, did not attend the meeting. However, Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker did.
One resident said Baker acknowledged that lessons were learned from the Pig’s Eye closure but never explained why the city had not secured the Randolph site before closing the Pig’s Eye Park homeless encampment.
Alpha News reached out to the mayor’s office with questions about the planning for the Randolph encampment but did not receive a response.
When Alpha News asked Council President Noecker about the planning behind the Pig’s Eye Park closure, she said the City Council wasn’t asked to be involved.
“The Mayor’s Office led the closure of Pig’s Eye and did not involve the Council in their planning,” Noecker said.
As for what happens next, Noecker told Alpha News she expects the encampment to close by the end of the year but said moving people from one location to another without addressing their individual needs isn’t a lasting solution.
“I believe we need to respect the dignity of everyone in the encampment by recognizing that a shelter bed is not enough,” Noecker said. “We need a person-by-person, case-management style approach to ensure everyone at Shepard-Randolph is able to go inside to a setting that works for them and that they will receive follow-up services once there.”
In the meantime, Waterford Bay residents are left living with what happens between now and then.
One resident described a recent confrontation while walking their dog when a woman living in the encampment began shouting before delivering a blunt message:
“We aren’t f-cking leaving these woods, so get used to your new neighbors.”
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
