The residential facility, St. Louis Stamping Lofts, is designed for the ex-offender and homeless population in a strategic effort to end the cycle of crime and homelessness. The fully ADA-compliant facility consists of 56 studio apartments in a four-story 36,500 square foot historic building and will feature amenities such as community space, laundry room, off-street parking, bicycle rental, security cameras, 24-hour front desk attendant, and secure building access.
Local social services agency, St. Patrick Center, will locate and place prospective tenants and will have staff on site to provide counseling and other supportive services. As part of the residency contract, residents will participate in a ten-week training course on the farm, where they will obtain green jobs skills in farming and gardening, irrigation, aquaponics, and landscaping. This training program has been in place for a number of years as a partnership between St. Patrick Center and Gateway Greening. Relocation of the program to the FarmWorks site will allow the scope of the program to expand, including more areas of training and year-round courses. Following the training program, residents will have opportunities for employment at the urban farm at FarmWorks, in the green business incubator, and with landscaping contractors. FarmWorks’ St. Louis Stamping Lofts project directly addresses issues identified by the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County in their “Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness”.
I posted on another section of this website about how great I think this project is. But, after reading this, one question comes to mind: Will the housing occupants have to take a drug test to qualify for this housing/work opportunity? Of course, drugs are not always the cause of homelessness, but it is often a contributing issue. Without some drug-free lifestyle measures in place, I could see this going downhill in a hurry, which is the last thing I think anyone would want. Just a thought–can’t wait to see this take off!
Thankfully, we have St Patrick Center as our partner on this project. They will have an on-site staff of four social service specialists who will assist and monitor the residents. This supportive service will include substance abuse counseling and enforcement. St Patrick Center will select residents based on strict criteria and house people that will most likely benefit from job training and placement.
Seems like a fantastic partnership effort. Bless all who act to solve real problems.