St. Louis City Hall Votes no to Heated Encampment for Homeless

St. Louis City Alderman Michael Browning, during a meeting for the Unhoused Bill of Rights, mentioned that he cannot support the bill which would include a heated encampment this winter for the homeless.

Alderman Michael Browning said to Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier , “Last winter, we lost people because the pop-up shelters didn’t perform as they needed to. The warming buses didn’t get out in time. I remember a night that I was volunteering in a shelter, and a man came in, and he had frostbite on both of his hands because of spending the night outside in freezing temperatures that were below zero. He couldn’t do anything for himself, and the hospital simply wrapped up his hands and released him. That man later passed away because there wasn’t a space for him to go. But I don’t see how putting him in a tent encampment in the middle of winter is going to help.

Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier said, they will be military grade tents that people use in war that are very weather durable, that are very spacious on the inside and they account for heating and for cooling mechanisms. Right now, all we’re doing is shuffling the same population from place to place. Human beings. So again, I mean, is the solution to do nothing?

Alderman Browning said, “I don’t think I can support 126,” the bill that would have created a warm shelter for the homeless to go to this winter.