St. Louis City Hall Unhoused Bill is like throwing slop on the wall

A woman was in opposition to the Unhoused Bill of Rights during a public meeting Wednesday evening at St. Louis City Hall. She said she has compassion for the homeless but thought the bill was misguided.

TRANSCRIPT:
I am also a resident of the 9th Ward and I wanted to also thank Michael Browning for being mindful in his decision making because I do not support 126, 127, or 128. And the reason is not because I don’t care about the homeless, and I believe truly that Michael Browning also cares about the homeless as do most of the people who do not support this bill. We want to pass bills that will help them, but I think that this is all a huge hodgepodge of too many things all at once and we can’t just go about things by throwing a pail of slop at the wall and seeing what sticks and making a big mess in the process. While I think that this is a genuine and commendable humanitarian effort, I think it should be approached with extreme caution.

We have a lot of actual case studies in other cities where bills similar to this have been passed and they don’t necessarily work out so well. So these types of efforts are often misguided and can lead to results that not only do not help the homeless ultimately but are devastating to the surrounding communities. I fear that this bill may create challenges for the city residents and local businesses by removing some of the basic tools and protections that help us to keep our community clean, safe and inviting. Thank you.

Woman in Opposition to Unhoused BOR