With a windchill of about -20° F outside on January 30, about 25 individuals held a sit-in at St. Louis City Hall for three hours, demanding that the city open emergency walk-in shelters. Many of the protestors were volunteers at local homeless shelters, and the sit-in ended when they had to leave to open up those shelters at around 6 p.m.
“The City of St. Louis is currently closing warming shelters at night without having an emergency overnight walk-in shelter for those in need,” the press release from attorney Elad Gross, who organized the action. “Churches, volunteers, and now St. Louis University students have stepped in to provide resources despite the significant burden placed on them by the city’s inaction.”
Throughout the day, individuals called the offices of Mayor Lyda Krewson and Lewis Reed, president of the Board of Aldermen, to demand the city take action.
Reed wrote to Krewson offering to help move funds to create pop-up shelters in publicly-owned buildings.
In a letter responding to Reed, Krewson said, “Last night, community and faith groups opened 11 emergency shelters providing 341 emergency beds. Everyone who wanted a bed had a place to go last night.”
Protestors said they were tired of carrying the burden to address this issue. The city chose not to expand their services on these cold nights, but instead ask more from the nonprofits, they said. City leadership has held meetings since last winter about providing adequate emergency shelter but nothing was implemented, they said.
“I think it’s very unfair,” said Tiffany Garry, who has been volunteering for 11 years. “All the warming centers that are open are community-ran by citizens, churches or local community places that opened up their doors. There’s nothing open by the city. The City of St. Louis hasn’t funded anything. I want to see a resolution, not a temporary solution.”
Garry left the sit-in at 5:30 p.m. to open an emergency shelter on South Broadway with Feed STL. She said her vehicle was full of supplies that volunteers bought themselves.
“Every time you feed the unhoused you have to pay a $50 permit fee,” said Garry. “That’s $2,500 a year. It just goes into the City of St. Louis’ pockets. None of that goes to feed them.”
