ST. LOUIS — People gathered at St. Louis City Hall today to change city leaders' minds Wednesday. Last week, the city announced its giving people who live in an encampment near Laclede's Landing until Friday to move out.
People experiencing homelessness, who live in the encampment, said they want solutions best suited for them. A city spokesperson said it's trying to meet people where they are to fulfill their individual needs.
In an email, a city spokesperson said in part, "DHS [Department of Human Services] continues to provide frequent outreach to the Riverfront community by offering housing, transportation, and additional resources including secure storage for their belongings as they transition into stable housing."
But some people living in the encampment are worried about how this will play out.
"I'm down here to find a solution for everything," Trina Scott said.
Laclede's Landing was once the historic manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping core of downtown St. Louis.
"I've lived off and on down here for the last three years," Scott said.
The encampment by Laclede's Landing is now home for many people dealing with homelessness in St. Louis such as Scott.
"A lot of people here are a community," she said.
That's now about to change.
"That's what the city is worried about anyways, is how it looks," she said.
Scott said she's made it her mission to improve the lives of herself and others at the encampment. But she and concerned relatives like Keon Cornell now ask the city, where next?
"I've got a couple relatives down here; I just want them safe," Cornell said.
A city spokesperson said the city is actively working with community partners and allocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief funds to help transition these people into permanent housing.
The spokesperson also said the City of St. Louis Department of Human Services has been to the camp several times to engage with people living there and best identify their needs.
But Scott and others are worried about how the eviction, and what follows, will all play out.
"A lot of us work to pay taxes, people don't know that because they don't take the time to know us. They just judge us," she said.
She said it's a reminder to everyone, not to judge as an outside barely looking in.
"Nobody ever truly wants to be out on the street and live like this," Scott said.
As of Wednesday, the spokesperson also confirmed 14 people living in the encampment have accepted the city's alternative housing options.
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