ST. LOUIS – New zoning changes in St. Louis will make it easier to open new homeless shelters and transitional housing.
The Salvation Army’s Lakeysha Fields says they see people from all walks of life in need of a place to sleep.
“There are families who have lost a job, who have experienced some kind of illness, who just don’t have that safety net to carry them through the next couple of hard months,” Fields, the St. Louis area social services director at the Salvation Army of Greater St. Louis, said.
So far this month, the Salvation Army has counted 1,970 people experiencing homelessness in the city. But there are only 360 shelter beds available, creating an urgent demand.
Tuesday, a new bill sponsored by Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier (Ward 7) was signed into law, changing zoning rules and potentially making way for new shelters.
“Shelters, transitional homes, group homes, boarding homes—much of the housing that is combined with social services was completely banned in our zoning code or extremely limited,” Sonnier said.
Sonnier added that it created a lot of headaches when people tried to open a new facility. Under new rules, organizations will need to collect signatures of nearby residents, turn in an operational plan, and go through a public conditional use hearing.
City data shows the average wait time for emergency housing is 246 days. The average wait time for any form of community housing is 776 days.
“Housing is a human right, so I think right now you see city officials really just making sure that we have quality, safe, habitable housing,” Sonnier said.
The salvation army says the number of people experiencing homelessness could be even larger. It says last year it spent $800,000 to help keep 1,500 people in their houses.