FARGO — In a 3-2 vote, the Fargo City Commission gave city staff the green light at a meeting Monday, Oct. 28, to relaunch the winter warming program.

This program provides the city’s homeless population with safe nighttime shelter from freezing temperatures during dangerous winter conditions.

However, this decision to restart the program was hotly contested.

David Samson / The Forum

Mayor Tim Mahoney and Commissioners John Strand and Denise Kolpack voted in favor, but Commissioners Michelle Turnberg and Dave Piepkorn voted against offering the program to the city’s homeless.

“We have to start cleaning up this city,” Piepkorn said. “This is becoming bullshit.”

There aren’t enough shelter beds in the metro to give everyone who is homeless a safe space for the night, city staff said. So, to bridge the gap and prevent injuries or deaths, the city of Fargo opens a warming shelter for the winter each year. winter.

“What are our options? » Strand asked Piepkorn and Turnberg. “Do we just start letting people freeze to death?” »

On Monday, Turnberg did not elaborate on his decision to vote against the winter warming program. However, she said the city of Fargo needs to do something to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness.

David Samson / The Forum

The commission’s recent ban on homeless encampments isn’t working, she said, because many tents are still set up along the river. Under the ban, camping is allowed — with restrictions — because there aren’t enough housing or shelter beds in the metro to help the growing number of people experiencing homelessness.

“We have to do something,” Turnberg said, adding that the city is not taking steps to reduce the number of unhoused people. She did not offer any other solutions.

Every day, Piepkorn is contacted by people who complain about all the “vagrants” sleeping along the Red River and near downtown Fargo, he said.

During tense exchanges with fellow commissioners, Piepkorn repeatedly said downtown Fargo was turning into a “shit hole.”

People are afraid to go downtown, he said, adding that he himself feared for his safety and decided not to go to the camps along the river last week.

As a result, he said, the city’s economic center is at risk of collapse due to the sight of homeless people congregating downtown to go near the Downtown Engagement Center: the building run by the city ​​at 222 Fourth St. N., which provides daily services to unhoused people, including the winter warming program.

It shouldn’t fall on Fargo taxpayers to fund help for homeless people, he said, some of whom come from neighboring communities.

“I think the residents are really fed up,” Piepkorn said.

The City of Fargo uses federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to fund the winter warming program, according to Assistant City Administrator Brenda Derrig.

“I would ask you not to disparage our city, Commissioner Piepkorn,” Mahoney said.

Anna Paige / The Forum

Downtown Fargo is a “jewel,” Mahoney said, and one of the region’s best destination downtowns.

City leaders are in weekly communication with the Downtown Community Partnership to preserve downtown’s economic stability, he said, noting that business has improved markedly and crime is down in the whole city.

Last year, the winter warming program helped protect between 40 and 50 people from the elements, Mahoney said.

Although the mayor is unsure whether the city of Fargo will be able to fund the program next year when federal funding disappears, Mahoney intends to work with the state of North Dakota to secure additional funding to help the city manage the influx of unhoused people as post-COVID-19 evictions increase.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

This situation is not unique to Fargo, Kolpack said.

Nationwide, communities are facing a tidal wave of need brought on by rising poverty levels, increased evictions and a lack of affordable housing.

“This is probably the most active topic that our leaders work on daily,” Kolpack said. “It’s still going to take time (to find solutions).”

The City of Fargo is working toward Housing First – a national solution to homelessness that places unhoused people directly into supported housing and overcomes traditional barriers that keep people on the streets and dependent on shelter services – but, so far, no concrete action has been taken. been taken.

David Samson / The Forum

In the short term, however, it’s important to plan this winter before the worst weather hits, Strand said, and “do what it takes to save lives.”

It comes down to a simple question, Strand said. Does the city of Fargo take care of people?

“However, winter warming is the humane thing to do for people who are outside in temperatures below 40,” Strand said. “We currently have around 40 people (living) along the rivers, what are we going to do if we have 40 frozen bodies?”