Ahead of a major winter storm bearing down on the region, Michael Robinson, CEO of City Hope St. Louis, and Josh Privitt, a volunteer with the Ferguson Warming Center, work to address the needs of those who are homeless; it’s a daily crisis not limited to bad weather days.
ST. LOUIS — With heavy snow and single-digit temperatures predicted, two advocates of helping the homeless warned Tuesday that there’s a shortage of extra shelter space in the city for people who normally stay outside overnight.
Moreover, Anthony D’Agostino, who heads the St. Patrick Center downtown, and Tim Huffman, co-chair of the St. Louis Regional Commission on Homelessness, said organizations that recently expanded the emergency space they do provide need donations to cover their extra costs.
D’Agostino said the various private groups that help the homeless in the city hope to raise $250,000 and recruit dozens more volunteers “to keep our unhoused neighbors from freezing to death.”
He said there are 266 “overflow” spaces in the city to handle homeless people who don’t usually go to overnight shelters, but 140 of them aren’t yet funded.
“We don’t have enough money and we don’t have enough people to continue the current spaces we have,” D’Agostino said, referring to the various groups making up the Continuum of Care network.
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The problem is occurring despite the Board of Aldermen’s allocation last summer of more than $19 million in new city spending on homeless services. That was part of a bill divvying up some of the federal American Rescue Plan Act funds coming to the city.
Huffman said the city has been slow in contracting with organizations to actually use the money. He said he believed that has been partly due to various regulations on contracting that must be followed.
“My analysis is the city is trying very hard to do the right thing and (officials) are doing the best within their institutional capability to do it quickly,” said Huffman, associate professor of communication at St. Louis University. “But they’re not doing it quickly.”
The city Department of Human Services, which oversees city homeless programs, said in a statement that it has used more than $7 million in ARPA funding to open 607 spaces in shelters.
Nick Dunne, a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, said the total includes 125 “overflow” beds. Many are at two emergency shelters opened in recent weeks — one at the Cherokee Recreation Center, at 3200 South Jefferson Avenue, and the Asbury United Methodist Church, 4001 Maffitt Avenue.
A city warming bus picks up people at 13th and Chestnut streets from 5:30 to 7 p.m. to take them to shelters when the temperature dips below 32 degrees.
Dunne and the department did not comment on the remainder of the ARPA homeless allocations.
D’Agostino, of St. Patrick Center, gave an example of the challenges facing homeless services organizations.
He said St. Patrick had been paying to house eight homeless people at the Lincoln Hotel on Olive Street in the Downtown West area. But in the last week and a half, he said, that’s increased to more than 30.
“Every day I eat into my budget (for St. Patrick’s overall services) to keep those,” D’Agostino said.
Huffman said SLU has donated space for an emergency shelter at its Il Monastero event center on Olive Street on and off this winter, with homeless service organizations and volunteers operating it. Forty to 60 people are staying there at any given time, he said.
“It’s been full for days,” he said. Two additional privately run emergency shelters in other locations are expected to open soon, he said. All need funding and staffers, he said.
D’Agostino said the Continuum of Care is seeking donations online.
Originally posted at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1.
