Tent Mission STL

St. Louis’ last pop-up safe haven shelter has closed for the season, and the city has yet to fund one.

An investigation by St. Louis Public Radio and APM Reports found at least five homeless people froze to death this winter after city officials declined to fund a 24-hour walk-in shelter.

A two-week blitz by advocates for St. Louis’ homeless population kept an estimated 260 people out of the cold, even as freezing temperatures have blanketed the region for nearly two weeks. Advocates Alex Cohen and Tim Huffman discussed the effort, and the reasons it was necessary, on St. Louis on the Air.

Propelled by the freezing weather this month, a group of St. Louis nonprofits worked together to make additional room for around 250 people in the past two weeks.

For months, a small group of people has occupied about a dozen tents along the McGuire Moving & Storage building, a vacant warehouse north of downtown St. Louis. But late last week, a notice to vacate appeared on the side of the building, informing encampment residents to leave the private property by Monday morning.

Though the city of St. Louis has added hundreds of new beds this year, outreach organizations are worried about the possibility of viral spread within emergency homeless shelters. With the first day of winter less than seven weeks away, these groups are scrambling to rewrite existing shelter procedures in an effort to keep the virus at bay.

An online concert to benefit artists and communities affected by the coronavirus around the world will also raise money for Tent Mission STL, which helps…