Dozens experiencing homelessness move to encampment on St. Paul's west side after closure at Pig's Eye Park
Chalsea Diver is one of more than 140 people who needed to find a new place to live after officials in St. Paul, Minnesota, shut down the homeless encampment at Pig's Eye Park on Wednesday.
Diver is one of dozens who opted not for a shelter bed, but for a different encampment.
She's a newcomer at a sprawling encampment that extends into the woods near Shepard Road and Randolph Avenue on the west side of St. Paul. Diver said this was her best option to stay close to her significant other after she learned that Pig's Eye would close.
"I think they should have just left it open and just left us alone. We're not, we weren't harming nobody," Diver said, "[the city is] making us more homeless."
It's a common sentiment from former Pig's Eye residents. The encampment offered a community where people could live on their own terms, even if that meant survival in a tent.
The city announced plans to close all major encampments last month, starting with Pig's Eye. There is no publicly set date for closing the camp near Randolph Avenue, but city leadership stated that safety ultimately tipped their hand. City data shows there have been around 853 911 calls related to three encampments, including Pig's Eye and Randolph, from July 1, 2025 to July 6, 2026. This includes medical emergencies, fires, assaults and drug abuse.
Diver said that she was evicted in January 2025, claiming that her landlord unfairly punished her after her friends had a domestic dispute outside her apartment building. Once the police were called, she said that she was kicked out.
Diver said that her first stop was an encampment off Maryland Avenue and Jackson Street, which was shut down after a man shot and killed another man at the encampment in July 2025. After bouncing around in other areas, she landed at Pig's Eye about a month ago, only to find herself on the move again to Randolph this week.
A man who identified himself as Joker told WCCO that he'd been living at Randolph for about four years, first becoming homeless after he said his father threw him out of the house for dating someone who wasn't white about seven years ago. He said that he believes somewhere between 60 and 70 people moved to Randolph from Pig's Eye this week, effectively doubling the population of his encampment. He said that this has caused friction between residents.
"Everyone was peaceful. Everyone knew each other," Joker said. "Now that the hatchery closed, everything flooded. Now people are doing nasty things to each other."
Still, he said that he'd rather stay at the encampment while he looks for permanent housing. He said that there is little to no trust in the nonprofit shelter system that city and county leaders are trying to direct people toward.
At the Catholic Charities Twin Cities emergency shelter in downtown St. Paul, Keith Kozerski, chief program officer, said they're playing the long game. He said that it takes time to build trust with people who may be weary of the system. He said often people can find it difficult at first to come to a shelter where there are curfews, set menus and other rules after experiencing life in the encampments.
"Helping people feel like this is a good choice for them takes a lot of time, education and just relationship building," Kozerski said.
Ramsey County granted $969,500 to the Catholic Charities shelter in downtown St. Paul to establish and maintain 49 new beds for the next year. This includes the hardware for the beds and funding for about seven new staff members, including a security guard. A spokesperson said that the money comes in incrementally as the nonprofit fulfills the contract.
Kozerski said that the new beds were not immediately filled after Pig's Eye closed, but he did note that they are seeing far more new faces than normal at the Catholic Charities St. Paul campus this week.
At the Randolph site, Ramsey County workers distributed food, water and other supplies on Friday. Residents like Diver made long walks from their tents deeper in the forest to retrieve the items on West James Avenue. The sprawling encampment follows the railroad underneath Randolph Avenue, extending to the Mississippi River.
Diver said that she's nervous about St. Paul closing the encampment near Randolph Avenue; Joker is, too. Both said that they would simply find another place to stay, with both telling WCCO they plan to find permanent housing in the near future.
A spokesperson for Mayor Kaohly Her did not grant an interview request on Friday. St. Paul City Council members did not respond to WCCO's request for comment or did not make themselves available.
