Tom Burnham, Community Relations Officer at Peter and Paul Community Services (PPCS; www.ppcsinc.org/) spoke to a gathering of West County Democrats on December 12, 2016. Tom’s talk was both a broad historical view of community services for those experiencing homelessness in the area and a sharply focused description of services provided largely by the city of St. Louis and various social agencies like PPCS.
Germane to current conditions and situations, Tom described the development of services in the St. Louis region. Stemming from disasters in the 19th century, a fire and an epidemic, he explained, St. Louis developed very strict building codes and a strong public health service. Hence, we see city neighborhoods comprised of brick and stone homes and we have health services like the St. Louis Continuum of Care, that today, is a model for other cities around the country.
St. Louis City and various agencies pioneered, developed, and implemented the Continuum of Care concept for dealing with homelessness. Rather than viewing homelessness as a single issue – not having permanent, dependable shelter – St. Louis Continuum of Care services seek to treat all the needs of an individual who, for whatever reason, is without permanent shelter. Hence, Tom explained, the creation of entities like St. Patrick Center, Biddle House and Sts. Peter and Paul Community Services. These organizations take a wholistic, needs based approach rather just a transactional one.
Through PPCS we have the LaBre Center, a 15-bed site that provides longer term shelter and treatment for people with chronic mental illness who are experiencing homelessness. It also operates Positive Directions, a 20-bed program for the chronically homeless living with HIV/AIDS.
In addition, PPCS initiated the Housing First program and concept which stipulates that a client needs stable housing before he or she can attend to issues of mental health, alcoholism, or addiction recovery. Other programs emanating form PPCS are a Meals Program, a Safe Haven, a Street Soccer program, and an arts program called Community CollabARTive. Check out the PPCS website for further details on these programs and for volunteer opportunities.
Of course, PPCS is most known for its emergency shelter center in the Soulard neighborhood, which, Burnham explains, accommodates 60 single, adult men each night, 365 days a year. But it is more than just a “one night stand.”
The shelter provides beds, food, showers, laundry, lockers, and a safe, caring alternative to living on the street and residents can stay up to 90 days. While some residents are without employment more than half do have jobs. Fifteen percent are veterans.
Counseling services are available from trained and qualified emergency shelter staff members who educate residents on community resources available to them including:
- Physical and mental health services
- Developmental disability services
- VA Services
Burnham further explained that while homelessness has been a community concern since before Missouri was a state and St. Louis was a village, it has been exacerbated sometimes by good intentions with unexpected outcomes. For example, the famous GI Bill signed into effect by Harry Truman provided for education for servicemen returning from WWII AND it made available to them FHA loans, low interest loans for housing. A stipulation for getting a loan however was that it must be made for the purchase a new home, not an existing one. New housing boomed in the suburbs and so city neighborhoods were abandoned. Property values withered, sources for shelter like rooming and boarding houses, long a substantial staple of the housing stock in the city, disappeared.
Couple this with the debacle of “the public housing boom” of the 50’s and 60’s – at which the public grew fearful and intolerant – and the setting is right for the virtual elimination of, what Burnham calls, “truly affordable housing for low income people.” He further suggested returning housing of this type to the private sector, to developers who will build and operate for profit, boarding homes and rooming houses. This, he says, might help to alleviate the current crises.
Burnham invites any one interested in learning or doing more to access the website at www.ppcsinc.org/ and contact the PPCS.
Submitted by Mark Kumming