ST. LOUIS – The City of St. Louis is offering housing, transportation, and additional resources to those living in a tent community along the Mississippi River in the Laclede’s Landing area.

As of Tuesday, a city spokesperson said 14 individuals had accepted the help being offered. Last week, notices were posted that the camp would be disbanded on March 10.

A spokesperson for the city said that the St. Louis Department of Human Services is committed to making sure that all families in the city who don’t have homes or whose homes are unstable have options for permanent and supportive housing, as well as services to help them with any other needs.

“It’s time,” said Gretchen Menges, owner of Advantes Group.

Her company is heavily invested in the Laclede’s Landing area. Menges said the tent encampment has been a haven for drug use and a source of crime.

“The situation that they were living in was not safe or humane for anyone to be living in,” she said.

Menges said bricks have been thrown through windows and vehicles have been damaged.

“We’re trying to renovate the Landing and redo all the riverfront,” said Jan Sandweiss, president of the Laclede’s Landing Neighborhood Association. “It’ll work a lot better if people aren’t scared to come down here because of the unhoused.”

“We have a lot of development going on,” Menges said. “So, we’re excited to keep the motion going forward.”

According to the city, $7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds will support the unhoused, including a mandate that all city-funded emergency shelters operate 24/7 and provide connections to wraparound services through the end of winter operations on March 31.