ST. LOUIS — City officials plan to set up one or more “intentional encampments†for homeless people who choose not to go into traditional indoor shelters, aides to Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said Wednesday.
“We can take these people who are currently living on the streets, wrap our arms around them and find a physical location where they can feel secure,†Nahuel Fefer, Jones’ director of policy and development, told the aldermanic Ways and Means Committee.
People going to such city-organized encampments, he said, would be linked to mental health providers and ways to access job training, transitional housing and other services.
Fefer said the city’s homeless population is expected to increase after a moratorium on evictions eventually is lifted.
“We have an eviction crisis on our hands,†he said.
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Jones’ spokesman, Nick Dunne, said later in an interview that no location has been selected and nothing is imminent.
He said the goal is to launch the new program sometime over the next fiscal year, which begins in July, and that the city would consult various agencies that work with the homeless on the idea. He said finding a location that is covered is among the goals.
The program would be in addition to existing shelters and the “tiny house†development for homeless people begun late last year on North Jefferson Avenue under Jones’ predecessor as mayor, Lyda Krewson.
“This is just an additional effort to get resources†for homeless people, Dunne said. The encampments would be “for people who are most comfortable in that setting,†he said.
Jones’ move drew praise from Anthony D’Agostino, the CEO of St. Patrick Center downtown, which long has been active in helping homeless people move into housing and jobs.
D’Agostino said there are more than 100 people, many with mental health and or substance abuse problems, who will not go to traditional shelters but need help.
“They don’t want to be controlled in the system we’ve created,†he said. “They are not ready to receive any kind of traditional services yet.â€
The goal, he said, would to let them continue to be independent but provide some structure and access to help.
D’Agostino, who also is vice chair of a network of homeless service providers called Continuum of Care, said private agencies have discussed doing something like this in the past but that it’s been hard to find an appropriate site. Insurance issues are among the problems, he said.
Another supporter is Alderman Christine Ingrassia, 6th Ward. She said she envisioned that the city site or sites would operate year-round and include portable toilets, running water and mobile showers.
She said the city would have to carefully weigh where to put such a camp. Officials would have to find a place, she said, that does not spur concern from nearby residents and businesses but also has access to bus and/or MetroLink lines for people in the encampment.
