Theology
The Treatment of the Homeless in St. Louis
In January of 2006 St. Louis was reported as one of the 20 cities that were
“meanest” toward homeless people in 2005 by the National Coalition of the Homeless. St. Louis ranked number nineteen and was joined by other large U.S. cities such as Chicago,
New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta.# The city was cited for police actions, specifically in 2004 for the “sweeping” of the streets by policeman to get the homeless away from downtown, prior to Fair St. Louis.# It is said that reports such as these are not
legitimate because they use specific incidents instead of broad, hard data to make
judgments and rank the cities. #
There are 1000 to 1200 chronically homeless people in St. Louis. The chronically homeless are those people who are permanently homeless or have been homeless over a long period.# There is also an undetermined amount of episodically homeless people in St. Louis, although it is estimated to be about the same number of chronically homeless. It is very hard for specific statistics to be found on homeless in terms of how many there are. This is because there are many people living on the edge of poverty and homelessness who often swing back and forth between these two lifestyles trying to escape homelessness but
sometimes slipping back in.# Also, because finding actual homeless people outside of
shelters can be difficult, so can estimating how many there are. For instance, just because someone looks homeless does not mean they are, and just because someone says they are not homeless does not mean they are not. It is certainly hard for people to admit they are
homeless. Also, because people are homeless doesn’t mean they are just walking the streets. Many homeless people “double-up” and live with friends or relatives to avoid the harshness of living on the street.#
There were quite a few other incidents and other police regulations that have led to the harassment and persecution of the homeless in the St. Louis area. Most of this abuse has been meted out by police. In 2004 the homeless of St. Louis along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed a suit against the St. Louis Metropolitan
Police Department.# The suit alleges that the St. Louis Police Department has a policy of attempting to drive the homeless away from the downtown area and telling them downtown is “off-limits” to them.# The homeless claim that the police have arrested them without any proof that they have committed any sort of crime. The police have thrown fireworks at them to make them move from a public park, taken them to remote areas and dumped them, taken their food, medication, driver’s licenses and insurance cards, and
even forced them into free labor.# The police have even arrested those who looked
homeless but were in fact not homeless at all but only appeared to be poor or homeless. #The police have gone to extensive, and often cruel means to discourage the homeless from lingering anywhere and to basically make the downtown area a “homeless free” place.
Over the fourth of July weekend the homeless of St. Louis experienced some of
the worst treatment ever. In an attempt to clear the area of homeless people and make the area more appealing to the many people who do not routinely visit downtown St. Louis.As part of the sweep of the homeless, many were arrested, some of them multiple times without ever being charged with a crime.# Another Fair St. Louis incident involved some
homeless being taken to a park and forced to clean it without pay. Other homeless were arrested for drinking in public, but thousands of people who attended Fair St. Louis drank right on the Arch Grounds. People also drink in public during Strassenfest, Mardi Gras, tailgating parties while the homeless are arrested for such actions.#
These clearly unfair arrests and punishments have been connected to more than
just drinking in public. There are now restrictions on where homeless people can
panhandle, how they do it, and what they do with the money, as well as restrictions on what donators can give and how often. These laws seem unnecessary but even more surprising is that these kinds of restrictions are not implemented on other collectors such as firemen standing in the middle of the road with their boots collecting money.#
The homeless have also been punished for sleeping in the wrong places. Although there are shelters, they fill up quickly and are unsafe for the homeless. Recently, contestants for the American Idol TV show were allowed to camp out across from the Edward Jones Dome and sleep in public, while the homeless are chased out of public parks and aren’t allowed outside overnight.# This sort of hypocritical action by the city
authorities and police just does not make sense. The homeless are the ones who need help and instead, the laws and rules are in fact hurting them and their already miserable lifestyle.
The treatment of the homeless is not just unfair but is sometimes cruel and
unnecessary. In one incident, a homeless man reportedly had a license to be a street
performer was taken into custody by police, and literally dumped down near the Mississippi River. Allegedly, the police proceeded to throw his Medicaid Card and his
driver’s License into a nearby sewer. The man was never even charged with any crime but had to put up with this cruelty just because he was homeless and therefore a vulnerable target for this unneeded and unprofessional punishment. One homeless plaintiff in the suit
claims a policeman purposefully broke their eyeglasses. Police have used racial slurs and vulgarity to get the homeless to leave downtown.#
Trying to make St. Louis’ downtown area attractive to visitors and its residents
alike is certainly understandable, especially during big events like Fair St. Louis, or the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament but this over the top approach to it is unnecessary. Police in 24 cities conduct nightly “sweeps” of loiterers, beggars, and street sleepers. But a big problem with this “sweeping” of downtown is that the homeless have no sanctuary except for there.# Almost all of St. Louis’ homeless shelters are downtown. If the homeless are moved from here they have no means of receiving food and medical care that they all absolutely need. Also, the police actions are reported by the
homeless to be interfering with their ability to get to or find jobs. #
The shelters, although beneficial to the homeless in many ways, can also be very
dangerous. Sleeping there means running the risk of being beaten up by other shelter inhabitants or having your belongings stolen. Many of the homeless carry all of their belongings with them at all times and so they are always susceptible to having things stolen, especially when they are sleeping around people who, like them, have nothing and are probably willing to steal to get by. #
Late in 2005 the Federal Government decided to give 11 million dollars to St. Louis city and county to put toward programs to end homelessness in St. Louis. $9.7 million will go to St. Louis city while $1.3 will go to the county. This money will go to a number of organizations dedicated to serving the poor and homeless such as the St.
Patrick Center, The Salvation Army, and the Society of St. Vincent DePaul. These
shelters will use the money to create not only new housing but employment, education, and rehabilitation programs for those who need them. The city and county have developed a ten year plan to end chronic homelessness but it is thought that the chronically homeless may be able to be dealt with in at least seven years.#
The shelters, unfortunately, are designed mostly to help the chronically homeless,
rather than the episodically homeless which are a growing population across the whole
country. This group ranges from the down on their luck type who may have been
homeless before, to those who had a stable life and earned decent money before being laid off and having nothing to fall back on. For many single mothers, this is the case. In the 1980’s, studies showed that most of the homeless were white males. But in recent years, women ages 26 to 30 and black people of either sex are the majority of the homeless
population. #
Researchers at Washington University, led by Dr. David E. Pollio, compared data from studies done in 1980, 1990, and 2000 and found drastic changes, and unfortunate increase in different ways, among the homeless population of St. Louis. In the twenty year
period, the drug abuse found in homeless men had increased six fold and sixty percent had been diagnosed with an addiction. Crack cocaine is the number one choice of homeless people. While alcohol rates in men remained unchanged, the rates in homeless women had doubled and forty percent had a “alcohol problem”. In addition, there were increases in major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. #
Getting the homeless help and out of their strife is a huge challenge. It is believed by some that the homeless are just lazy beggars. In fact, twenty to fifty percent of the homeless in St. Louis have jobs.# Unfortunately these are low paying entry level jobs and
are not enough to sustain even a life at the poverty line for most of these people. In big cities, like St. Louis, the strong economy can cause landlords to raise rents. As a result, people employed in low wage jobs can’t meet rent or get food and are forced back down
into shelters.# This is often the sad story of the episodically homeless. Also, because of the large numbers of homeless, in 2002, fully 100 percent of the worst cities as far as harassment and arrest of homeless lacked enough beds in shelters to meet demand. In fact, one third of the families seeking assistance are turned away do to lack of resources.#
There are an estimated 700,000 homeless people in the U.S..# In a country where
people enjoy multi million dollar homes, or even just a small house to raise a family, I think that there is certainly enough wealth to end this problem. Instead of spending thousands on police enforcement of unfair laws, let’s put that money toward building homes and shelters and get rid of the problem of homelessness altogether instead of continuing a trend of increasing despair for the poorest individuals our country has.