ST. LOUIS — The city and St. Patrick Center are moving forward with a new “intentional†homeless encampment project north of downtown to replace the former “Camp Cole,†which officials said was largely successful but shut down in early November after running out of funding.
The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the city’s top fiscal body, last week approved a $905,000 contract with St. Patrick Center for a “homeless intentional encampment project.†The city’s Department of Human Services requested the approval of the contract, which will be paid for using American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Anthony D’Agostino, CEO of St. Patrick Center, said his organization hopes to open the next intentional encampment as soon as the end of January.
However, he said the contract has yet to be finalized and that the city department said discussions are needed with St. Patrick on the plan.
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Under St. Patrick’s proposal, he said, the encampment would be established on a privately owned vacant lot at First Street and Cass Avenue, near the Mississippi riverfront. The owner is letting St. Patrick Center use the lot for that purpose, D’Agostino said.
Plans call for the purchase of 40 “tiny homes†to be erected on the site. The city preferred tiny homes as opposed to other types of intentional encampments used around the country, such as tent-type structures, he said.
The north riverfront location will be different than the city’s tiny home community on the site of a former RV park at Jefferson Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard because it will be for people who choose not to go to a shelter, D’Agostino said. People seeking homeless services are assigned to the other tiny home park. A third tiny home park in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood is funded largely by the Kansas City nonprofit Veterans Community Project.
The St. Patrick Center contract was one on a list of 17 total contracts worth nearly $6 million with area nonprofits to provide services to prevent or respond to homelessness. They also include $1 million to Peter and Paul Community Services to acquire an emergency shelter building and another $1 million contract with Doorways for a new emergency shelter project. City officials have said the city’s shelters are at capacity.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ administration began pitching the idea of “intentional†homeless encampments shortly after taking office. An outdoor camp that later sprang up next to St. Patrick Center on the city-owned Interco Plaza downtown led to issues with fights and drug use next to the new offices of Square. One person staying there was shot and killed before the city disbanded the camp.
The St. Patrick Center-overseen Camp Cole was set up at 14th and Cole streets around that time and operated for a few months with some success. About half of the 40 residents there were issued housing vouchers or housed by the time it ceased operations.
The “intentional encampment†concept first tried at Camp Cole provided services to higher-need homeless people, with more behavioral or mental health conditions that precluded them from using traditional shelters. As a result, D’Agostino has said, it required more staff plus security, meaning more funding.
