City, County take action as cold weather nears

While a mild fall has lingered, colder weather is rapidly approaching. As temperatures plummet, hardship on the region’s homeless rises.

St. Louis has launched its winter operations to help support unhoused neighbors during the winter season, according to Department of Human Services Director Yusef Scoggin.

DHS wants to ensure our unhoused neighbors and families facing housing instability are protected during the coldest months of the year,” he said.

“Collaboration with our neighbors in St. Louis County and agencies region-wide is key as we continue to deploy federal resources to increase our shelter bed count and provide critical wraparound services.”

The County also announced Wednesday it is partnering with The Salvation Army - Family Haven to operate its Warming Shelter through March 12, 2023.

The shelter is located at The Salvation Army-Family Haven, 10740 Page Ave., St. Louis MO, 63132. The shelter will provide hot meals, laundry facilities and case management services. The hours of operation are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no temperature restrictions.

Scoggin said DHS will collaborate throughout the winter with funded and volunteer outreach organizations to ensure vulnerable residents can access more than 600 shelter beds, including 130 winter overflow beds, with additional beds to become available in the coming weeks.

In addition to increasing shelter beds, the City’s Department of Human Services has ensured that all city-funded shelter providers remain open 24/7 throughout the winter season, as well as provide wraparound services to address other underlying needs.

This includes additional data collection support to better assist unhoused residents in transitioning them into permanent housing.

Winter response operations continue through March 31. 

Tori Dempsey, attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, recently told KMOX radio the number of homeless children continues to rise in the region.

“A few years ago, a statistic had come out that in St. Louis City alone, 20% of the youth that live in our city experienced homelessness at some point during their adolescence, which is just an alarming number,” Dempsey said on KMOX. 

“Additionally, the most recent numbers that we have for 2020 show that there's been an increase in unaccompanied youth living in both St. Louis County and St. Louis City.”

She said there was a 49% increase in the city.

“A youth may be coming out to their caregiver, and they've been forced to leave the home because of that they've lost a parent.”

“That is surprisingly, a very, very common issue why youth are experiencing homelessness and no longer have a parent to provide for them,” Dempsey said. 

“We also have youth that are parenting, and when they become pregnant, they're also forced out of their home.”

Michael Andrew, senior vice president and general counsel for Enterprise Holdings, said a website, homelessyouth.org/en/us/Missouri, has been created to address the problem.

“When you just hear about what these kids are having to go through, and the ability for us to take as attorneys, our kind of unique training and experience and create a resource that might help these children and help the services and the advocates that are trying to help them get through this,” Andrew said.

 “Homelessness experience — for us it was a no brainer. It's aligned with the culture of our company. And part of what enterprise tries to do is make a difference in our local communities.”

According to youth.gov, “The number of youths who have experienced homelessness varies depending on the age range, timeframe, and definition used, but sources estimate that between 500,000 and 2.8 million youth experience homelessness within the United States each year.”

The National Council of State Legislatures reports, “Each year, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness in the United States.

As of January 2019, 6,179 individuals of all ages were homeless in Missouri. Of these, 1,359 were under age 18, and 545 were 18 to 24 years old. Among the homeless youth and young adults in Missouri, 477 were unaccompanied by an adult.

Anyone seeking shelter or offering support to unhoused neighbors is encouraged to contact United Way 2-1-1 for available beds or visit the City’s website for more information.

Please contact the United Way 211 to access the Warming Shelter or contact The Salvation Army-Family Haven at (314) 423-7770 for additional information.