The United Way’s 211 hotline in St. Louis is a taxpayer-funded service that, among other services, tries to provide resources to those who are homeless; nevertheless, its failings often force volunteers to pick up the slack in providing assistance to those in need. When those volunteers are able to acquire information on shelter beds from the operators at 211, they are frequently informed that there are no walk-in beds available at any shelter that is open around the clock.
“My interest has always been and will always be in making sure that there is openness for the general public: ‘Are all of these beds available?’ How can individuals get access to them? If they’re open around the clock, can you get in touch with them at any time? We have discovered that they are not. And how are people supposed to find them if they have no idea where they are located? Audra Youmans, a student at Saint Louis University who volunteers for STL Winter Outreach, shared her thoughts on the matter. “The response has always been to dial 211,” you are told. However, when we phone 211, we are not provided any information.
Volunteer work is something else that Nicole Warrington does for STL Winter Outreach. During the day, she is a staff scientist in cancer research at Washington University, and during the night, she takes calls from emergency department social workers who are looking for services for people who are asking for shelter.
She said, “I’m in the process of tabulating how many I’ve received since the beginning of November 2022, and I’m over 100 requests for shelter; and that does not include the calls for people who ultimately found other places to stay.” “I’m in the process of tabulating how many I’ve received since the beginning of November 2022,” she said. There is still an extreme demand for access to various types of shelter.
Warrington estimates that hospital employees call her rather than dialing 211 because not all 211 operators have access to a program called Get Help. This program provides real-time information on available shelter beds in the city and is the reason why hospital workers call Warrington rather than dialing 211.
“[Get Help] has been beneficial,” she added, adding that there are some operators who seem to be untrained on the complexities of the system. “Get Help” has been helpful. Even if a shelter has space available, the individual who is looking for shelter might not be a good fit for that particular facility. A shelter for women, for instance, even if they offer a bed, you need to know that it’s a shelter for women and is not available [to men].”
Warrington and Youmans were guests on Friday’s edition of St. Louis on the Air, where they discussed their efforts to assist people in the St. Louis region in locating shelter beds.
Dr. Yusef Scoggin, the director of the Department of Human Services in St. Louis, participated in the conversation to explain how the system operates and the role that the city plays in ensuring that residents who are vulnerable have access to shelter during the colder months. He said that he is aware that there are areas in which the 211 system can be enhanced.
“Most definitely the lengths of the waits,” he stated.
In point of fact, a call that was made to the 211 hotline on Wednesday and was witnessed by St. Louis Public Radio indicated that some operators do not have access to the information that is required to locate a shelter bed in the city. Youmans, who was trying to get a bed in a shelter for a man who was 33 years old and was leaving the emergency hospital, was placed on hold for about ten minutes during the course of the call.
Scoggin stated that it can be challenging to acquire real-time statistics at times due to the fact that half of the overflow shelters in St. Louis are walk-up shelters. “As a result, what is recorded in Get Help in real time can be a little bit difficult at times when someone is entering through the door of those walk-up shelters,”
Scoggin stated that the issue of shelters being overcrowded with clients is a problem that needs to be addressed on a regional level. This refers to the more general issue. According to him, between 30 and 40 percent of the people occupying shelter beds in the city are from the communities that are nearby.
People are being brought to us from as far away as Troy, Missouri, Jefferson County, St. Joseph, Missouri, and other locations in the state of Missouri. Scoggin said. We need to have a group discussion on the resources that are available.
Author: STL 420 News
