St. Paul apartment residents raise health, safety concerns over homeless encampment
October 27, 2026 / 11:19 PM CDT / CBS Minnesota Residents at the Waterford Bay Apartments in St. Paul, Minnesota, say they have both health and safety concerns after a homeless encampment next door has continued to grow for months. Back in August, city crews cleared a homeless encampment at Pig's Eye Park, and many of the campers denied offers of shelter, moving near the intersection of Shepard Road and Randolph Avenue by the apartment building instead. Dave Zerwas has lived at the complex for over four years in a unit overlooking the camp. He says often he watches smoke wafting up from fires at the encampment. "Burnt plastic basically getting piped into your apartment; it's bad," he said. "I had the medics out at my place last week." Another resident, Oliver Heskin, purchased two air purifiers in hopes of improving air quality inside. Heskin showed WCCO videos of industrial air…