Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that over the past five months, the number of people living in homeless encampments has dropped “significantly,” and so has the number of corresponding violent crimes that plagued neighborhoods where the encampments popped up.

“It is a world of difference,” said Mayor Frey. “We have an HR Team, a homeless response team, that is going out and both providing shelter and housing options. We’re producing more deeply affordable housing than we ever have before by a longshot.”

Frey told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS there are currently 32 people in homeless encampments compared to nearly 300 in late fall, and the number of shootings and drug overdoses has also dropped.

In 2024, city records showed there were 15 shooting fatalities and more than 380 drug overdoses.

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“Since we’ve removed a lot of these encampments from these neighborhoods, we have seen an 80-percent reduction in 911 and 311 calls. So, emergency calls are down 80%,” said Frey.

Frey added that, right now, the largest encampment only has four people.

Frey also credited a mobile medical unit for the decline in overdoses. It is a big bus the city uses when immediate ambulatory help is not needed.

“This bus can literally meet people where they are and provide any form of treatment, or care, that they might need right there, on site.”

The Minneapolis Police Department also said that since the beginning of March, it had shut down six different encampments before they could be established.