ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ city workers clean up debris and garbage left over from a homeless camp on Interco Plaza in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ on Sept. 3. The plaza was cleared after a fatal shooting near the downtown headquarters of Square.
ST. LOUIS — Proposed new rules spelling out how impromptu homeless camps can be dismantled by city officials are pending before the Board of Aldermen.
Under Alderman Christine Ingrassia’s bill, the city generally would be required to give 30 days’ notice before removing homeless people from such outdoor sites and provide adequate accessible replacement housing.
Various outreach efforts and services would be mandated in the meantime, in conjunction with a network of private homeless service agencies called the Continuum of Care. Clearing operations could take place only from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
But the legislation gives the city more leeway when such camps create unsafe or hazardous conditions, allowing removal on 48-hour notice. The same notice would apply to sites with a “specific public use†impeded by a homeless camp.
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Ingrassia, of the 6th Ward, said the goal is to set standard procedures for handling such situations while protecting the “dignity and humanity of our unhoused neighbors.â€
“We’ve had numerous occasions of just chasing the same people around the city in a really problematic way†from one site to another, she asserted at a committee hearing on the bill Monday. She said that’s a waste of city money and employees’ time.
The bill drew support from some homeless advocates at the teleconference hearing, held by the Health and Human Services Committee, which Ingrassia chairs.
But the measure was criticized by Dan Pistor, who chairs the Downtown Neighborhood Association’s public safety committee. Pistor, who said he was speaking for himself, said allowing 30 days notice is “far too long.â€
“We want to see the homeless removed from the streets as quickly as possible, treated for their illnesses and placed in supportive housing,†he said.
He added that the interests of the homeless “shouldn’t be elevated over the rights of the neighborhood and the significant impact of the region’s downtown.â€
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ City parks workers dispose of an abandoned tent from a homeless encampment in a park along the 1400 block of Market Street on Sunday, May 3, 2020. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Brad Waldrop, a downtown developer, also opposed giving a 30-day notice and said the bill would be detrimental to economic activity in the downtown area.
He said many encampments end in “a kind of general chaos,†citing the fatal shooting last August at a homeless site at Interco Plaza on North Tucker Boulevard. The city shut it down a few days later.
Yitzy Simon, a homeless advocate, said requiring advance notice of a shutdown is in keeping with notice requirements for residential evictions.
“They have rights just like everybody else,†he said. “If we just have a process in place, people will have time to make their necessary plans†once forced to move.
August Kelly, a coordinator with — which aids the homeless — said the “trauma†of encampment shutdowns leads to increased mental health problems and drug overdoses for some who stayed there.
Among other things, the bill requires the city to make available for homeless camps a nearby alternative public space “owned or controlled by the city†in situations in which 48-hour notice is allowed before clearing.
Ingrassia said she is working on tweaks to the bill with officials in Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ administration and some groups that work with the homeless and expects to present those to the committee on Thursday.
The mayor has proposed establishing so-called intentional encampments with some city supervision and services, aimed at people who won’t go to traditional shelters.
Aldermen last summer approved spending $2 million in federal pandemic funds on such facilities but also barred them from being located in 12 of the city’s 28 wards.
Originally posted at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1.
