As the city of St. Paul cleared a sizable homeless encampment near the downtown Lafayette Bridge on Thursday, officials with the Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities and the city’s Homeless Action Response Team mobilized crisis services.

The encampment is “right in our backyard,” said Sarah Peterka, a community relations director with the Union Gospel Mission, which maintains a men’s campus on University Avenue near Lafayette Road.

Peterka said as the city closed the encampment of about 30 or more residents for “safety reasons,” the Union Gospel Mission offered camp residents emergency shelter, meals, clothing, hygiene services and access to both temporary housing and veterans’ housing. Some occupants may be steered to the nonprofit’s Naomi Family Program.

Many residents were already gone by the time city crews arrived to clear the camp, but among those who remained, “there’s some pretty strong emotions going on there right now,” she said, shortly after visiting the location Thursday morning.

The nonprofit is working with the city’s Homeless Action Response Team and other agencies. “We are here to help those who are facing this difficult transition,” said Union Gospel Mission chief executive officer Pam Stegora Axberg, in a written statement.

The St. Paul Fire Department’s Community Alternative Response Emergency Services team assisted by providing medical assistance and assessments, according to the department.

In January the city evicted approximately 40 people from a nearby a homeless camp at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. That encampment was vacated due to reports of health and safety hazards, according to the city.

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