As winter approaches, questions mount over city’s tornado response

With winter less than a month away, city officials are under growing pressure to find safe housing for families displaced by the spring tornado that tore through North St. Louis. Hundreds of residents — most from majority-Black neighborhoods — are still relying on shelters, hotel rooms or relatives as they wait for long-term options.

Mayor Cara Spencer’s administration has spent months scrambling to secure enough space. The city has evaluated unconventional possibilities, including the recently sold 28-story AT&T tower downtown and the 250,000-square-foot Armory in Midtown, while also surveying churches, empty apartments, warehouses and community centers.

Yet a city program designed to help displaced tenants with financial assistance has not accepted a single application. Citing “legal hurdles,” Human Services Director Adam Pearson said there was “some confusion” over what funding sources the program could use. He took responsibility for the delay and said applications should open “in a couple weeks.”

The scale of the need became clear almost immediately. City officials first estimated that 5,000 to 7,000 buildings were damaged. By August, FEMA had received nearly 10,000 applications from mostly North St. Louis households — including 3,570 from the 12th Ward (37%), 2,725 from the 10th Ward (25%) and 1,908 from the 11th Ward (23%).

A July “Crisis Cleanup Outcome” report from Board of Aldermen President Megan Green’s office documented more than 4,000 reports of tornado damage in North St. Louis and nearly 2,000 families labeled “High Priority” and in need of immediate help. Nothing close to this level of destruction has hit the city since 1959.

Still, questions have surfaced about whether the Spencer administration has met the moment — in part because Spencer campaigned last year on delivering stronger basic city services after sharply criticizing former Mayor Tishaura Jones for what she called a poor response to a major winter storm.

Some share those concerns; others do not.

Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard, whose district was among the hardest hit, said she supports the city’s efforts but remains frustrated by delays.

“I have frustrations about a lot of things — housing being one of them,” Clark Hubbard said. “But because I work on the city side, I understand some of the barriers, nuances and systems that have slowed us down but I also think there were work-arounds and things that could have been done differently and some, quite frankly, not at all.

“But, you know, six months later, we can only hope we’ve learned from our mistakes,” she said. “But that’s six months too late for people who still don’t know where to turn, receiving no response or unresourceful responses but that’s on a case-by-case basis.”

Alderman Rasheen Aldridge agreed that the city’s recovery work falls short, though he does not blame Spencer.

“City government was not prepared for a natural disaster like this,” Aldridge said during an October interview on St. Louis Public Radio’s “Politically Speaking Hour.” 

“We did not have the funding, did not have the manpower, did not have the support,” he said.

He stopped short of calling the response “a failure,” but said the city needs “a natural disaster plan” that cuts red tape and speeds coordination among federal, state and local agencies.

Complicating matters are changes to federal emergency policies under President Trump, which critics say have slowed access to the federal Disaster Relief Fund. Spencer has publicly criticized the federal response, blaming “turmoil at the national level” and what she described as a FEMA “pullback” that created delays and added bureaucratic barriers.

Anthony Johnson Jr., who lives in the Academy-Sherman neighborhood, remains frustrated with the government’s response to the tornado. He owns three properties, including his primary residence, and all were damaged in the storm. He believes both the city and federal government failed to help residents who needed it most.

“There’s a whole city over there of people who lost houses … and they have nowhere to go. The city’s not doing anything about that, FEMA isn’t doing anything about that.”

In July, Spencer issued an executive order creating a City Hall “Recovery Office” to coordinate tornado-recovery work. The office was tasked with data collection and analysis, resident well-being, housing and infrastructure restoration, damage assessments and consistent communication with neighborhood leaders.

Kathryn Jamboretz, interim communications support person at the mayor’s office, said Spencer’s appointments of Pearson as head of Human Services and Julian Nicks as chief recovery officer were intended to “make sure all city residents have a safe and warm place to live this winter,” adding that both are “working night and day to secure housing for the traditionally unhoused and those who have been impacted by the tornado.”

Last week, Spencer signed three bills approved by the Board of Aldermen to add more than $13 million for housing and shelter needs for tornado-impacted residents this winter. Clark Hubbard’s $9.3 million proposal was part of the package, though she still has deep concerns.

“I have hope, but it’s not like I’m not worried,” she said. “I absolutely have concerns about things that keep me up at night.”

Alderwoman Laura Keys is experiencing the crisis herself. Her home suffered major damage.

“My house was included so, I’m in this with everybody else and ain’t nothing about it easy,” Keys said. “I just got a roof about 9 weeks ago, got the windows replaced three weeks ago, they’re putting in new ceilings and I’m still waiting on electrical repairs.”

Like Aldridge, Keys said the city “didn’t have a good roadmap” for a disaster of this magnitude. She acknowledged residents’ frustrations but credited Spencer for direct communication and consistent updates.

“The city is doing the best it can, and I have to give the mayor her praise,” Keys said. “She has gotten on the phone with me and other alders, before the day kicks off, to give us updates on things that are going on but this is such a dire situation that’s still unbelievable for me.”

Keys believes displaced residents will get the help they need this winter through a mix of city funding and support from the Urban League, Action St. Louis, shelters, churches and other nonprofit organizations.

She said criticism of the timeline ignores the scale of the catastrophe.

“I know people are really hurting out here but with 5,000 houses in need, do you really think we can get all that done in 100 days or whatever?

“It’s going to take years!”

Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.