What’s Next?

by Executive Director, Steve Campbell

Some 60 plus individuals now live along the banks of the Mississippi river since moving from the Tucker Blvd tunnel

Not long ago on the TV news and in the local paper, there were stories about a group of people living downtown in the tunnel under Tucker Boulevard. The good news is that stories like these can serve as a wakeup call, reminding us that there are people who are in such need that they must resort to living underground or outside. Stories like that can move us to action. The bad news is that some people consider this story to be news, when in fact, it is nothing new. People have been living in that same tunnel…and on the riverfront, and in abandoned buildings all over town…for decades. Right here in St. Louis. Our neighbors.

In the fall of 1986, I attended my first meeting of St. Louis’ Homeless Services Network. The group had been formed just a few months before that, to find better ways to address the needs of our neighbors who are homeless.  Since then, the City’s Network, now called the Continuum of Care, has become a nationally recognized model of collaboration.

Representatives of more than 50 agencies meet every month to facilitate the range of services that includes basic necessities like food and shelter, transitional housing and programming to help people end their homelessness, permanent supportive housing for people who are homeless and disabled, and prevention services to help people who are at risk of falling into homelessness stay in their homes.

The care that the Continuum provides has grown and developed over the years.

When our shelter opened in 1981, a small group of volunteers saw people living on the street and in abandoned buildings and chose to do something. They started by providing overnight shelter during the coldest months of the year.  In those early days, our shelter was staffed by an accountant, a chef, a house painter, a reading teacher, an airline pilot and an artist.

The PPCS Emergency Shelter at 711 Allen in Soulard.

In short, though we had many skills at our disposal, we didn’t really know the best ways to help…but we were people who cared and we did what we could.

As we talk with the homeless people we serve and learn more about their needs, we have progressed  from unskilled to skilled, from amateur to professional.

We’ve added three transitional programs that address issues like substance abuse, mental illness and HIV. Today, our paid staff includes nurses, licensed clinical social workers, occupational therapists and substance abuse counselors. Through the use of the best evidence based practices, 85% of the residents of our clinical transitional programs successfully end their homelessness and move to independent housing.

Positive Directions' Keokuk House, one of three transitional housing programs operated by PPCS.

When we started, we addressed only symptoms (giving people a place to get off the street at night) and along the way we developed programs that focus on what causes people to be homeless. Today we are working to develop permanent supportive housing that will provide a home for people who are chronically homeless.

I think our experience at Peter & Paul reflects the growth f the Continuum.

Today, throughout the Continuum of Care, an amazing array of caring professionals provides services to single men or single women, to families with children, to youth who have left their families or are aging out of the foster care system. There are agencies that provide health or dental care, that assist people with mental or physical disabilities…that help people to recover from substance buse or learn to live with HIV or AIDS…agencies that help those fleeing domestic abuse or people coming out of prison.

We have partner agencies that provide legal services, help with fair housing issues and prepare people with employment skills and help them find jobs.

The strength of the Continuum of Care is that when we work together, no one person or agency has to do it all. y creating a network, by building relationships between service providers, we are better able to help the people we serve find health and wholeness and vibrancy in their lives.

What’s next for the people who had to leave the Tucker Boulevard tunnel and are now living in tents or outside? Agencies from the Continuum will continue to do outreach and help those we can. But the hard truth is that we don’t have the resources to house everyone who is homeless in St. Louis.

The good news is that you, too, are a partner in this work. By your caring and support, you make it possible for us to help as many as we can. The threat of freezing in the cold weather is behind us for now, but the heat of summer will be here soon, and that brings its own hardships for people who live outside without air conditioning or access to a shower. Please keep these neighbors in your thoughts and prayers. And please help us help them.

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All of us at PPCS wish the Roadies luck in this weekend's Street Soccer tournament in Washington DC!!