Although the homeless encampment outside City Hall started around July, it wasn't until September that the amount of tents quickly grew. After the mayor's office announced the camp would be cleared on October 2, there was uncertainty of how much longer the encampment would be allowed to stay…
ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is defending her decision to clear a homeless encampment outside City Hall this week, and blaming activists for slowing things down.
Under fire from advocates who decried the sweep as inhumane and unnecessary, Jones on Wednesday said the camp, which boasted more than 30 tents in its final days, was a public health hazard.
“We saw drug dealing, we saw drug using and people defecating on the City Hall grass,†she said. â€And that is not safe. It’s not healthy. And it’s not a good look for the city of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.â€
She also said the city’s attempt to remove the encampment late Monday, without the customary 10-day notice, shouldn’t have been a surprise. Activists and progressive aldermen Rasheen Aldridge, of Downtown, and Alisha Sonnier, of Tower Grove East, said they were caught off-guard and questioned where people were supposed to go at a time when many shelters are already booked up.
But Jones said the city had been reaching out to the campers for weeks, telling them they were going to enforce the curfew and offering help getting into shelter before it happened.
The problem on Monday, she said, is that officials told everyone else and activists came down and got in the way of the city providing services. When they and the aldermen refused to leave, the clearing was postponed for a day before it was ultimately cleared Tuesday.
“Where were they over the last two months while these people were sitting on City Hall’s front lawn?†Jones asked of activists. “Where were they?â€
Activists bristled at the criticism.
Audra Youmans, a volunteer with the advocacy group Tent Mission STL, said the organization’s volunteers were at the camp every week distributing resources.
And she said if the city had actually done its job and offered services campers wanted, they would have left long before. At least a handful of people living at the camp had refused to go to shelters that required splitting up from a partner or pets.
“Mayor Jones has made her position very clear,†Youmans said. “These are not the people she supports and these are not the people she is here to help.â€
“She’s on defense because we hit the nail on the head,†added the Rev. Larry Rice, the prominent homeless advocate who spent weeks delivering blankets and tents to people in the encampment before the Jones administration ordered it cleared Monday night.
“She made a rash decision,†he said. “And all she did was cause sleep deprivation.â€
Advocates for a sweeping new plan to help the homeless once again pressed their case to wary aldermen Wednesday night, telling a committee tha…
Gloria Koonce, 70, leaves her new home Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, at the Jefferson Spaces Tiny Homes in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. Koonce said she lived in the homeless camp outside ºüÀêÊÓƵ City Hall for three weeks after losing her housing due to issues with her landlord. She was offered a spot at the tiny homes when the camp was cleared this week. "This is a blessing," Koonce said. "First time I've had sleep in over a month."