St. Paul sets Aug. 5 deadline to close Pig’s Eye Park encampment
St. Paul is scheduled to begin closing three homeless encampments on Aug. 5, 2026, with Pig’s Eye Park listed as the first site. The city says the closures are driven by growing safety concerns and that additional funding will expand shelter-bed capacity before the first action.
The plan marks a change in the city’s approach to established encampments. Mayor Kaohly Her announced the three-site plan as St. Paul moves away from tolerating long-standing encampments, according to Axios.
What is scheduled
The City of Saint Paul’s encampment-response information names Pig’s Eye Park as the first location scheduled for closure. The date listed is Aug. 5, 2026.
The announcement covers three planned closures, but the public schedule does not list dates for the second and third sites. The plan therefore sets the first known deadline without establishing a complete timetable for all three locations.
The city’s stated reason for the action is growing safety concerns. Its response also links the closures to a shelter-capacity effort, saying funding will be used to expand the number of available shelter beds before the Pig’s Eye Park closure.
That distinction matters for people living at the encampments. The city has announced a plan and a first closure date, but the plan does not establish that all three sites have already closed or that everyone living at the locations has received shelter.
Demand for housing placement
The planned closures come as people seeking housing placement face substantial demand in Ramsey County. Axios reported that more than 1,400 single adults were on the county’s housing-placement waitlist.
That figure provides context for the city’s decision to pair the closure plan with additional shelter funding. It also shows the scale of the housing-placement pressure facing people who may need an indoor option as encampments close.
The city’s shelter investment is intended to expand capacity, but the public announcement does not give a final number of new beds. It also does not provide a final count of how many people will be displaced or how many will be placed in shelter after the first closure.
For St. Paul, the policy affects more than the three locations named in the plan. It changes how city agencies respond to established encampments and creates a practical question for residents seeking shelter: how the city’s planned increase in beds will align with the Aug. 5 action at Pig’s Eye Park.
What happens next
The next known date is Aug. 5, when the city has scheduled the Pig’s Eye Park closure. Before that date, St. Paul says it will fund additional shelter-bed capacity.
The dates for the other two planned closures remain unspecified publicly. The final number of people affected by the Pig’s Eye Park action and the final shelter-placement total also remain undisclosed.
The first closure will be an early test of the city’s new approach: moving from tolerance of established encampments to scheduled closures while seeking to increase indoor shelter capacity. The outcome will affect people living at Pig’s Eye Park, the agencies responsible for carrying out the plan and the city’s broader response to homelessness.
Sources
- City’s Response to Encampments, City of Saint Paul
- St. Paul backs away from tolerance of homeless encampments, Axios
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