ST. LOUIS — It's been nearly one month to the day since Mayor Tishaura Jones and her team shut down a homeless encampment outside their offices at St. Louis City Hall.
It was near the intersection of Market and Tucker Boulevard.
The city cleared out a trail of tents from the front lawn and said it moved several dozen homeless people into shelters or its Tiny Houses temporary living community.
"I'd say 75% of the people did not go to shelters," said the Rev. Larry Rice, longtime homeless advocate.
Rice said many of those unhoused men and women just moved a few feet away and set up tents on the grounds of the old Municipal Courts Building next door to City Hall.
"People want some control over their life," Rice said. "They want to be able to come from a tent. They want to be able to feel like they're able to live life."
For the past five months, Angel Shorter; her husband, James; and their dogs have lived in a tent at a new homeless encampment near the RIverfront.
"I'm staying here because it's my destiny," Shorter said.
About 40 people are living at the encampment in more than two dozen tents.
"I do not want to go to a shelter because I want to be here with the people on the streets," she said. "I want to help them."
About a mile away, another homeless encampment is set up in the heart of the historic Laclede's Landing, near downtown St. Louis.
The city shut down one encampment there last March, but neighbors said within a week, a new one popped up and so did "drug use, threats against them and other violence."
Jan Sandweiss, the owner of a historic building and president of the Laclede's Landing Neighborhood Association, said the association had to hire extra security seven days a week due to homeless-related problems.
"There are bad eggs in every bunch ain't there?" James Shorter said. "Why condemn the ones who are just trying to live?"
Sandweiss shared the following statement on behalf of the Laclede's Landing Neighborhood Association:
Laclede’s Landing is an extraordinary historic tourist attraction right next to an incredible national monument. We are struggling to revitalize the area. We have new retail and residents and events on the Landing. The encampment presents a very difficult hurdle for our businesses and residents. Our encampment is comprised of a significant number of mentally ill or drug addicted individuals. They are unpredictable and frequently violent, breaking windows in buildings and cars. They threaten people. I have watched busloads of children coming from a field trip to the arch, trying to have lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory and they had to get back on the bus because there was a naked homeless guy right in front of the restaurant. These people need mental help and drug rehab. Providing them with meals will not be sufficient to help them improve their situation.
Our building has had to hire security 7 days a week to keep our tenants safe. I understand that the situation is very complicated and I don’t have a solution. I just know that what is going on now is not good for the unhoused or the tenants and residents of the Landing.
Nick Dunne, a spokesperson for Mayor Jones, shared the following statement regarding the encampment at Laclede's Landing:
Since 2021, our administration has maintained communication with Laclede’s Landing businesses and building owners around a variety of issues including traffic and lighting concerns, illegal dumping, and the riverfront encampments.
Homelessness is a complex issue, often compounded by mental health or substance abuse issues. On multiple occasions the City has attempted to decommission the riverfront encampment with offers for available housing and rehabilitation; many have accepted, while many others decline these offers. The Department of Human Services, in partnership with SLMPD and community organizations, continue to engage this population every week to ensure they know resources are available to get them off the street and on a path to permanent housing.
The administration will continue to engage with Downtown and Laclede’s Landing residents to work collaboratively on solutions. We continue to encourage those whose safety is threatened to contact 9-1-1.
The outreach team from the Department of Human Services visits the encampment at 14th & Market at least once a week. They meet with the people camped out there to perform needs assessments so they can identify available housing and resources to help get these individuals off the street.
In the meantime, barricades are still set up around City Hall and Poelker Park one month after the homeless encampment was cleared because city workers are re-sodding the grounds.
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