Thread by @ArchCityDefense

#Thread
For years, @STLCityGov has displaced, punished, arrested, brutalized, prosecuted, jailed, and traumatized countless people who are unhoused and then had the gall to suggest it's "public safety."

Over +10 years, we've represented clients who were homeless and couldn't...

get into housing often because they were targeted and punished for being poor and unhoused. They'd been cussed out, beaten unconscious, arrested and threatened with being caged in the Workhouse, and generally abused by SLMPD, the courts, & the notoriously hellish Workhouse jail.

Those publicly financed & City supported actions never got our clients closer to feeling safe, respected, or that their basic needs were actually being met. People would be unhoused on the streets one day, get arrested, jailed and vanish for a few months, and then be right back

at square one, likely carrying more trauma.

We have to do something different if want to break this vicious cycle.

So, what actually does make a difference in people's lives?

We know that it takes hours and weeks and months of advocating on all fronts -- in court, in front of a judge, on the phone calling apartment listings, taking a client to get a meal, giving out bus passes, working on resumes, driving clients to see places for rent, helping...

someone apply for disability if needed, providing utility assistance, filing lawsuits, talking with reporters... etc. etc. And, after all that, with the help of partner service providers, we're able to help someone move into a safe place they can call home.

If we can throw in a lamp, a couch, a table, some toilet paper, we will.

Long before #COVID-19, we helped clients go from homeless to housed, we've filed lawsuits challenging police brutality, inhumane jail conditions, and inadequate/uninhabitable shelter space in #STLCity.

Since COVID-19, we've sent official letters, shared comprehensive recommendations, we've been on the ground in downtown St. Louis supporting outreach workers as best we can, as well as sharing intake applications with people who are currently unhoused.

stlcovidhub.org

There are no handcuffs, no court fines, no cages involved & as a result, people have a better quality of life. It's not perfect, & often there aren't "Disney" endings.

We're committed to challenging systems that unjustly criminalize people & violate their basic rights.