On a frigid November eve in St. Paul late last week, two things happened.

Downtown, the county’s new “safe space” shelter for the homeless was open and at capacity, as it had been for a full week. And up on Cathedral Hill, a good two-dozen tents remained erect and occupied.

Those tents are inhabited by homeless people who say they’re still hesitant to move — even as snowflakes fall and temperatures dip into the single digits.

St. Paul city officials have leaned on the likelihood that the homeless camp, the largest in the city, would significantly disperse once the county’s “safe space” opened. Memos circulated urging city staff to let the homeless know that remaining on the site wouldn’t be tolerated after Nov. 1.

But city officials were quick to say, once those memos became public, that they would avoid a forceful approach.

“The mayor has stressed that there will be no evictions. We’re not going to require people camping to move, without the ability to provide some options,” Ricardo Cervantes, head of St. Paul’s Department of Safety and Inspections, which is coordinating the city’s response to the camp, said in late October.

“I think the first order is to evaluate, where can these people go?”

That question remains unanswered this week — though many are still watching and waiting as the winter shelter expands its bed count in coming days.

HALF AS MANY NOW

Several campers noted that since the winter safe space opened Nov. 1 in the downtown basement of the Ramsey County Government Center East, the camp has dispersed somewhat.

They pointed to the tree-lined path along the north side of Interstate 35E. The space closest to Kellogg Boulevard still had plenty of tents. But as it ran west and disappeared into denser trees, the tents didn’t stretch that far.

“It used to stretch all the way to the bridge,” said a man everyone in the camp knows as “Miami.” “There’s about half as many now.”

Still, 21 tents are 21 tents, not counting any deep in the trees. It wasn’t too much less than the total observed during several visits the previous week: somewhere in the mid-20s.

The camp is comfortable, Miami said, especially if there are people you know looking out for you.

“But I might head to the safe space,” Miami said, watching the snow fall. “I don’t know.”

Chris Michels, a senior program manager at Catholic Charities who often visits the camp, says she has seen a dip in the population.

But the camp is also seeing new people coming in. Word of the camp has been amplified by the media, and various churches and support groups now make frequent stops there, Michels noted.

And in the end, “there is a subset of the population that are going to choose to not go into shelter. For those people, they’ll have to figure out how they’re able to self-resolve,” Michels said.

If Miami decides to give the shelter a go, will he find a spot?

Late last week — as temperatures took their first frigid turn of the season — the space’s 50 beds were full. The county is bumping that total up to 64 beds by Thursday, after some modifications to the space are made.

Which leads to the question: Will another 14 beds, along with even more frigid temps, make a bigger dent in the camp’s population? And if the shelter remains full, is there anywhere else to go?

City spokeswoman Liz Xiong said Friday the administration was “increasingly concerned about dropping temps” and was working to come up with a backup plan for the campers “in the next week or two.”

Said Michels: “There will be a dedicated effort there (at the camp) in the next couple days to provide referrals for people who are getting weary of the cold and elements. We’re hoping we can get that last influx of people into the safe space (when it expands).”

There’s a difference between the county space and the downtown’s larger overnight shelter, Higher Ground, run by Catholic Charities.

Perhaps most importantly: The county space lets campers bring their shopping carts in, within reason. Also, there’s a mixed-gender community space; whereas at Higher Ground, once you check in, there is no contact with acquaintances of the opposite sex.

Advocates for the homeless and affordable housing have been sounding the alarm in recent years as metro-area rents have increased and vacancy rates have dropped. A new St. Paul city policy of shutting enclosed skyways at night also went into effect last year.

According to the most recent study by the Minnesota Housing Partnership, Ramsey County’s homeless population grew by 14 percent from 2012 to 2015 — more than any surrounding county. Statewide, homelessness actually decreased by 9 percent in that time frame.

And over the past year, Ramsey County’s newest homeless count hasn’t shown a significant drop: 1,424 homeless this year, compared with 1,438 last year — though its “unsheltered” totals did drop.