ST. LOUIS — More than a dozen people showed up at St. Louis City Hall Monday night to rally for the homeless people as it continues to get colder.
They’re calling on city leadership and the Board of Aldermen to do something after the Unhoused Bill of Rights was taken off the table.
One of the founders of Lifeline Aid Group says they’re very concerned about the homeless who have nowhere else to go on cold nights.
“We have unhoused people living around the corner right now as we speak,” Lifeline Aid Group Co-Founder Drew Falvey said.
As the temperature continues to drop concern continues to grow for the homeless people living on St. Louis streets.
“It's wintertime now. It's starting to get cold. People are starting to die. This is the time where people start to get frostbite because they don't have the proper clothing, the proper shelter, or just the proper necessities,” Falvey said.
Renae Adams said she came out to show her support.
“If you spend some time out in the cold, you have just a taste of what they live through day to day,” Adams said.
Falvey says unhoused people have lost trust in city leaders.
“We are out here because of the Unhoused Bill of Rights. There hasn't been any traction on it. There hasn't been any news coming out at all. It's just been eerily quiet. There's not been no new updates about it,” Falvey said.
Adams says she knows firsthand how easily someone can become homeless.
“I was in my 20’s and it was after undergraduate school. I was working full time. I was living in New York City. I did not have credit and I could not find a place to live, thanks to the kindness of my coworker who I did not know for some time, I had a place, thank God, to stay, but by all accounts, I was homeless,” Adams said.
Falvey says he wants to see action before he sees another life lost to the cold.
“More shelters, more resources, and would just like to advise bringing back the warming bus. We had a warming bus back then. Why not bring that back now? People relied on that to stay warm,” Falvey said.
Mayor Tishaura Jones's Office Responded saying, "We have greatly increased our year-round shelter bed count, secured a brick-and-mortar alternative to the warming bus, and continue to seek organizations for additional shelter space using an available pool of funds."
The city says they released information and an updated Inclement Weather Operations Plan at the end of November:
Year-round shelter beds at city-funded facilities are up 23 percent with a total of 744.
Inclement weather overflow beds are at 102, with 40 of those being provided by Americorps when temperatures drop below 20 degrees.
Daytime warming centers - Click for Full List
- St. Patrick Center McMurphy Day Center: 12/6-3/31, Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
- AmeriCorps: each Tuesday 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p,m. regardless of weather
- St. Louis Public Library Warming Sites (Hours of operation vary per library)-- Baden, Barr, Buder, Cabanne, Carondelet, Carpenter, Central, Divoll, Julia Davis,
- Kingshighway, Machacek, Schlafly, Walnut Park
- Salvation Army Warming Center (Maplewood): Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
- Senior Centers Warming Sites (warming hours are open to all, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
- Five Star Senior Center, Northside Youth and Senior Center
Anyone who wants to provide meals, supplies or other assistance can reach out to St. Louis Continuum of Care here.
Alderwoman Alicia Sonnier said in a statement on Twitter shortly after taking the Unhoused Bill of Rights off the table that new bills would be coming out shortly but there haven't been any updates yet.