ST. LOUIS听鈥 Sitting in the shade of the St. Patrick鈥檚 Center downtown Friday afternoon,听Brenda Coffman bowed her head with the Rev. Ray Redlich of New Life Evangelistic Center and prayed for safe shelter. Her dog, Birmie, a Belgian shepherd trained to help Coffman听when she suffers seizures, lay next to her.听
Birmie and Coffman, 60, have been on the streets for two weeks, since she was evicted from her south city apartment. She repeatedly called 211,听the region鈥檚 24/7 hotline that connects people with open shelters. But time and time again, Coffman was told there were no beds available. And in the midst of summer鈥檚 brutal heat and sudden storms, she and Redlich were getting desperate.听
鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to get her off the streets,鈥 Redlich said. 鈥淭his is an urgent need, with this heat and rain. She鈥檚 really at risk out there.鈥澨
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Advocates have repeatedly raised alarms about cases just like Coffman鈥檚: There aren鈥檛 enough walk-up beds for people who need emergency overnight shelter. The 211 hotline, run by the United Way and serving both 狐狸视频 and 狐狸视频 County, too frequently turns people away. Moreover, shelters often have specific accommodations, only serving families or those in substance abuse recovery, leaving people like Coffman to fall between the cracks.听
鈥淭he thing I keep hearing over and over is call 211, call 211,鈥 Redlich said. 鈥淏ut people call there and they know they won鈥檛 get a bed. They鈥檙e told to keep calling 211, and they call again and again. It鈥檚 like playing roulette 鈥 you have to call at the right time and, maybe, there will be a bed available.鈥
Nick Desideri, a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, acknowledged that 211 has turned callers away. The hotline uses real-time data from different shelters to determine bed availability and the city鈥檚 department of human services was working to get an updated account, Desideri said in an email.
鈥淲hile 211 has turned away callers for lack of availability, DHS is working with our shelter providers to ensure their numbers are updated as soon as possible to have a full understanding of bed availability,鈥澨鼶esideri said Friday in an email.听听
The city has funded about 600 year-round shelter beds, not including additional 鈥渟afe haven鈥 space at the St. Patrick鈥檚 Center and an expansion of the Magdala Foundation鈥檚 tiny homes on Jefferson Avenue near downtown, Desideri said. The city has also required shelter beds be provided around the clock, instead of housing people overnight and then kicking them out in the morning.听
There is 鈥渁 high need throughout the region鈥 for shelters that accept people with animals, Desideri said.听The city will keep working to find beds for them, he said.
But advocates say that officials don鈥檛 know the experience on the ground.听Day to day,听the beds are full, and 211 turns people away, said Audra Youmans, with the volunteer group 狐狸视频 Winter Outreach.听
And shelters can have individual policies that pose barriers to people finding shelter, particularly people with physical disabilities, people who are transgender 鈥 or people like Coffman, with service animals or pets. Youmans said she couldn鈥檛 immediately think of a shelter that takes them.听
鈥淓very single person is different and has different life experiences and different needs, and that doesn鈥檛 change when people become unhoused,鈥 Youmans said. 鈥淲e need a shelter and housing model that听has an abundance of options, so that if one shelter doesn鈥檛 fit there is another option available.鈥澨
Coffman said she wasn鈥檛 told by a specific shelter that she couldn鈥檛 be accepted because of Birmie. But 211 told her that there weren鈥檛 available beds for her where Birmie could also stay.听
鈥淚 call and they say we have nowhere for you to go, you have to call back after 5 p.m.,鈥 Coffman said. 鈥淎nd then you do that and they say there is no bed. I have nowhere else to turn to.鈥澨
Coffman said she was evicted from her south city apartment about two weeks ago.
She had been living in the apartment with a housing voucher from a nonprofit that works with people with mental and physical disabilities or those recovering from substance abuse. Coffman said she has suffered from seizures since she was a child and started having nervous breakdowns after the death of her father in 2006, before getting connected with the nonprofit.
Recently, she got in a maintenance dispute with her landlord and stopped paying rent. After she got kicked out, New Life paid for her to store her belongings in a storage facility, where she tried to sleep at first until she was forced out by security, she said.听
She hasn鈥檛 been able to find a shelter with an open bed since.
But Friday afternoon, after the Post-Dispatch sent inquires, Coffman got a call from city Human Services Director Adam Pearson.
Hours later, the city found her a tiny home at the Jefferson site, where she was expected to stay until social workers could get her more permanent housing.
Coffman said Saturday that she was she could be placed in senior housing that would accommodate her and Birmie.
鈥淢y prayers were answered,鈥 she said.听鈥淚 slept so good last night.鈥澨