St. Louis Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier last year unveiled legislation known as an Unhoused Bill of Rights in response to increasing concern over how officials and agencies interact with homeless individuals.
The bills included several ideas — including the creation of intentional encampments and restrictions on when city officials can break up encampments. It also completely did away with what’s known as the plat and petition process for shelters, which require 51% of signatures of people who live within 500 feet of the proposed site.
But the legislation faced a rash of criticism, including from St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones. And after shelving that plan, Sonnier decided to go back to the drawing board to overhaul how shelters are approved in the city.
“One of the things that I heard every person say, even if they were in opposition, is that we do have a shortage of shelters,” said Sonnier on an episode of The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air. “And so I decided in the second round, let's just focus on one issue at a time. And let's start with the thing that's going to meet the immediate needs that we have.”
Sonnier’s bill would drop the threshold of signatures from residents to 25%. It would also set up a series of hearings before a shelter could be approved on more than just a temporary basis.
The 7th Ward alderwoman said the current system has blocked most efforts to open shelters — which in turn is driving people to sleep in parks or in vacant houses. And while she said that she’s heard concerns from residents that easing the plat and petition process for shelters could affect property values, Sonnier added that doing nothing won’t erase problems that arise from homelessness.
“And so a lot of times we're not talking about whether or not they're present, we're just talking about whether or not they're going to have a place to go and get resources,” Sonnier said. “And the reality is they're going to have a disruptive presence. If they don't have places to go and they can't get resources, they're going to go to the vacant home next to you, and they're going to set up shop.”
Neighborhood associations balk
Aldermen recently heard Sonnier’s bill, and it received sharp criticism from representatives from city neighborhood associations.
Keith Fairchild of the Boulevard Heights Neighborhood Association said there isn’t support from neighborhood associations to ease the plat and petition process.
“I take great pride in meeting with a lot of different people,” Fairchild said. “And the stories are all the same: We want to say what we want to say. So what happens in our neighborhoods, that's very important to us.”
Sonnier said while she’s gratified to see people like Fairchild be involved in the legislative process, she added that groups that she’s spoken to support a push to create more shelter space. She added, “There's not a single room that I would talk about this bill and not leave without the room erupting in a round of applause.”
“If the goal of this process is to have a process that immerses the community, and that the shelter operates in the best interests of those receiving the services in that community, we're failing,” Sonnier said.
Jones said on a recent edition of The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air that any comprehensive plan to aid homeless individuals needs to have buy-in from other governmental jurisdictions, like St. Louis County. She said she’s going to use her position as chair of the East-West Gateway area planning agency to make any policy proposals regional in nature.
“I'm not saying that we don't want to take care of them, but it is not sustainable for the city to shoulder the burden,” Jones said.
While she emphasized that she doesn’t disagree with Jones that there should be more assistance from surrounding counties, Sonnier said, “We have to be careful not to force ourselves into binaries.”
She said it’s possible to collaborate with other local governments and work on overhauling the city’s laws.
“And we have to be careful not to make it seem as if we can't walk and chew bubble gum at the same time,” Sonnier said.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
