LOUIS – Homeowners in St. Louis are taking legal action in the hope of forcing the city to act on squatters living in front of their house for more than three years.
The lawsuit names the City of St. Louis, John Doe, and Jane Roe, as defendants.
Doe and Roe are the Sudanese refugees who have continually refused city services and permanent housing.
The lawsuit says residents have been contacting their alderwoman, the mayor, the police, and the health department with no results.
Conditions continue to get worse at the growing shelter constructed of tarps and blankets stretched over buckets and shopping carts. A Fox 2 camera caught food waste being thrown from the shelter into the middle of Spring Avenue.
The shelter covers the sidewalk and part of Spring Avenue in front of a home near the corner of Spring and Chippewa Streets.
The lawsuit says cooking and heating devices used in the dwelling are fire hazards; a storm sewer under the tarps is used as a toilet; and the conditions are so unsanitary that people who live in the house next to the sidewalk shelter can no longer use portions of their home.
“Filth everywhere; it smells. It’s disgusting. It makes the front of their house unusable,” Bevis Schock, the homeowners attorney, said. “They have a lovely front porch; they can’t use it.”
On bike or on foot, people must use the street instead of the sidewalk to get around the structure.
The ramp for the disabled at the corner of Spring and Chippewa is completely covered by the dwelling.
A team of health department and homeless services workers have visited the couple, but they refuse help.
The lawsuit cites nuisance laws in the city’s revised code, which say, “every continuing act or thing done… to the damage or injury of the inhabitants of the city… shall be deemed a nuisance,” and “any unclean, stinking, foul, defective or filthy drain, ditch, tank, or gutter… shall be deemed a nuisance.”
The suit also points out that the city has a history of acting against such nuisances, including the removal of tents from the City Hall lawn just before the vice president’s visit to St. Louis in October.
St. Louis’ mayor has denied any connection between the visit and the removal of the tents.
“When Kamala Harris came, they cleaned them all out of home base: City Hall,” Schock said. “So, they absolutely have the power to move people out. I hope this case becomes a model of how you attack them: make the judge force the city to do their own job… ask the judge,” he said.
With the refugee couple entering their fourth year on the sidewalk in front same house, Schock is hoping for quick action. A hearing date has not yet been set.
A spokesman for the City of St. Louis gave the following statement:
“While we can’t comment on pending litigation, many city agencies and community partners have worked together in attempts to connect the couple with available resources over the past decade, including the Department of Human Services’ Homeless Services Division, Department of Health’s community sanitation team, the International Institute, and more.
All of the attempts over the past decade have been unsuccessful in getting the couple to consent to wraparound services and/or housing. They have refused all offers, including offers for tiny homes and other non-congregate housing, medical evaluation, and more. The city, its agencies, and partners remain committed to getting the couple into supportive housing with wraparound services once they choose to accept it.”