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Three Downtown Aldermen Seek Place for Stakeholders on Discussion of Homeless Encampments

May 12, 2011 Downtown, Homeless 26 Comments
ABOVE: North riverfront area where homeless tent cities exist

Last week the three aldermen representing downtown sent the following letter to Mayor Slay:

Dear Mayor Slay:

As the Alderwomen who represent our city’s downtown area, we write you today regarding news reports that local government is developing plans to relocate the homeless men and women living along the downtown banks of the Mississippi River. Recent events have drawn increased attention to these encampments, however their presence is an ongoing regional issue that predates even the beginning of your administration ten years ago. We commend your office for showing leadership on this important issue and taking the first steps toward implementing solutions that work for St. Louis’ most vulnerable and impoverished residents.

We look forward to being included in the process that develops the best approaches and solutions for this population. A lasting solution requires input from community leaders and residents. As you know, local partnerships, like the St. Louis City Continuum of Care, work with the homeless population day in and day out. They know the needs and problems that face this community and ought to be part of the solution for its future. Other stakeholders, such as nearby residents and business owners, should also be heard.

In short, this is a longstanding issue that requires an enduring solution. The proper approach must be delicate and allow the voices of those who directly serve and represent this population to be present at the planning table. Throughout the process, elected officials, social service agencies and community leaders should be able to offer their input, thoughts and guidance to ensure that this is a permanent approach to a decades-long issue. A process that neglects their advice or excludes their participation is simply a recipe for failure.

We urge you to reject any approach that does not include the numerous stakeholders involved in this issue. A “take it or leave it” plan developed without proper input and participation is inappropriate here and will only exacerbate existing problems surrounding this situation.

Thank you for your consideration of our position. We look forward to collaborating with you and your office on this issue, and the many others that face our great city.

Sincerely,

 

Hon. April Ford-Griffin, Alderwoman Ward 5

Hon. Kacie Starr Triplett, Alderwoman Ward 6

Hon. Phyllis Young, Alderwoman Ward 7

Last week I was nominated to the board of The Bridge:

The Bridge provides sanctuary for homeless and at-risk persons in St. Louis. Meals and support services for basic human needs are offered by a staff intent on eradicating homelessness by guiding guests on a path to self-sufficiency.

If elected to the board, the three-year term will begin in July. I look forward to learning more about this complex issue and exploring possible actions. I first typed solutions but I’m realistic enough to know homeless will always exist in our city & region. Our policies, however, can vary greatly.

– Steve Patterson

 

Currently there are "26 comments" on this Article:

  1. Jason Stokes says:

    I hope your work goes well with the Bridge. Kathleen and the entire organization have done wonderful things.

     
  2. Jason Stokes says:

    I hope your work goes well with the Bridge. Kathleen and the entire organization have done wonderful things.

     
  3. Mbroute66 says:

    The stakeholders still missing seem to be those being relocated.

     
  4. Mbroute66 says:

    The stakeholders still missing seem to be those being relocated.

     
  5. Thank you, once again they seemed to be overlooked.

     
  6. Anonymous says:

    “Our policies, however, can vary greatly.” As in the city will continue to be the repository for the hardest to place from a multi-county region? With no financial support from the originating counties? Paid for with our city taxes? Adding to the perception that we’re a decaying, crumbling, poverty-wracked, crime-ridden, rust-belt city?!

     
  7. JZ71 says:

    “Our policies, however, can vary greatly.” As in the city will continue to be the repository for the hardest to place from a multi-county region? With no financial support from the originating counties? Paid for with our city taxes? Adding to the perception that we’re a decaying, crumbling, poverty-wracked, crime-ridden, rust-belt city?!

     
    • Rick says:

      JZ, great rant, but what would you do to change things?

       
      • Obviously a regional government could raise money from everyone so the financial burden doesn’t fall just on the City of St. Louis.

         
        • Rick says:

          Too bad obvious doesn’t equal action. Perhaps there should be a lawsuit seeking a non partisan regional homeless prevention and emergency housing action plan with cost sharing spread across the region.

           
          • Douglas Duckworth says:

            This is one reason we need regional property tax sharing, which the Show Me Institute did not evaluate in their Earnings Tax Study because it is too socialist and difficult to implement. That maybe so but these problems are not going to be solved by shuffling them to another neighborhood or municipality.

            I commend the alderwomen for advocating a participatory process. Hopefully decision-making involves a majority of the homeless. They recently had a home. Perhaps they still would still if not for the plutocrats running the United States, who received their bailout while the middle class and working poor received no relief from the Administration.

            Where’s the jobs bill for the inner city poor? If not now then when?

             
        • JZ71 says:

          Homelessness covers a wide spectrum, everything from temporarily-homeless middle-class families to drug-addicted social misfits. Suburban areas seem willing to help the economically challenged, but seem more inclined to buy one-way bus tickets for the “bums” with more-severe challenges, the most-visible members of the homeless community – out of sight, out of mind. For a variety of reasons, the city chooses to accomodate some of these homeless people in quasi-official encampments. Unfortunately, this part of the population is marked by drug abuse, petty crime and a lack of respect for many social norms. By tolerating such behavior, we have the unintended consequence of attracting more.

          The fundamental choice that needs to be made is whether to continue to enable this alternative lifestyle OR to create a path off the streets. Several cities have chosen to be more aggressive in providing alternative housing choices, while discouraging panhandling, prohibitting camps and addressing individual substance abuse and mental health issues. Compassion can and does take many forms (including “tough love”), but it does have its limits. But if we’re the only place in the region that allows “camping”, we’re going to be left paying its ever-increasing costs. And, as Steve points out, this a regional problem that requires, and deserves, regional resources.

          One good example: http://www.denversroadhome.org/index.php

           
          • Douglas Duckworth says:

            How do we enable this lifestyle in the country of personal responsibility, where if you don’t own a home you’re not a real American?

            Homelessness is the result of economic collapse: that the post-industrial economy does not need or want these people at least until they become captured by the prison-industrial complex for drug possession.

             
  8. Rick says:

    JZ, great rant, but what would you do to change things?

     
  9. Obviously a regional government could raise money from everyone so the financial burden doesn’t fall just on the City of St. Louis.

     
  10. Rick says:

    Too bad obvious doesn’t equal action. Perhaps there should be a lawsuit seeking a non partisan regional homeless prevention and emergency housing action plan with cost sharing spread across the region.

     
  11. Anonymous says:

    Homelessness covers a wide spectrum, everything from temporarily-homeless middle-class families to drug-addicted social misfits. Suburban areas seem willing to help the economically challenged, but seem more inclined to buy one-way bus tickets for the “bums” with more-severe challenges, the most-visible members of the homeless community – out of sight, out of mind. For a variety of reasons, the city chooses to accomodate some of these homeless people in quasi-official encampments. Unfortunately, this part of the population is marked by drug abuse, petty crime and a lack of respect for many social norms. By tolerating such behavior, we have the unintended consequence of attracting more.

    The fundamental choice that needs to be made is whether to continue to enable this alternative lifestyle OR to create a path off the streets. Several cities have chosen to be more aggressive in providing alternative housing choices, while discouraging panhandling, prohibitting camps and addressing individual substance abuse and mental health issues. Compassion can and does take many forms (including “tough love”), but it does have its limits. But if we’re the only place in the region that allows “camping”, we’re going to be left paying its ever-increasing costs. And, as Steve points out, this a regional problem that requires, and deserves, regional resources.

    One good example: http://www.denversroadhome.org/index.php

     
  12. Douglas Duckworth says:

    This is one reason we need regional property tax sharing, which the Show Me Institute did not evaluate in their Earnings Tax Study because it is too socialist and difficult to implement. That maybe so but these problems are not going to be solved by shuffling them to another neighborhood or municipality.

    I commend the alderwomen for advocating a participatory process. Hopefully decision-making involves a majority of the homeless. They recently had a home. Perhaps they still would still if not for the plutocrats running the United States, who received their bailout while the middle class and working poor received no relief from the Administration.

    Where’s the jobs bill for the inner city poor? If not now then when?

     
  13. Douglas Duckworth says:

    How do we enable this lifestyle in the country of personal responsibility, where if you don’t own a home you’re not a real American?

    Homelessness is the result of economic collapse: that the post-industrial economy does not need or want these people at least until they become captured by the prison-industrial complex for drug possession.

     
  14. Douglas Duckworth says:

    What percentage of wine sales at Bridge go toward the homeless? The lounge seems pretty popular so we should be able to solve this problem in no time.

     
  15. The Bridge and the Bridge Tap House are two entirely different entities.

     
  16. Douglas Duckworth says:

    Yes, I know.  

     

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