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According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than 25 percent of the St. Louis city population lives below poverty levels. Out of the 90,000 people living below poverty, many of them are homeless.
Poverty and homelessness were issues Social Justice Month addressed last week.
On Thursday night, Shaun Lee, a social worker and coordinator of the Disaster Recovery Team at the St. Patrick Center, came to UM-St. Louis to speak about homelessness in St. Louis.
Individuals living below the poverty threshold earn less than $9,214 annually. Lee said that someone earning minimum wage would have to work 98 hours a week to afford housing.
"Mental illness, chemical dependency, or both, keep them from holding a job or keeping a home," Lee said.
Natural disasters also bring many people to seek assistance from centers such as St. Patrick.
"In September, 2,100 families came to St. Louis after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," Lee said. "The ones that are affected hardest [by natural disasters] are those who live near the poverty line."
Later that night, a small group of UM-St. Louis students and staff gathered on the MSC lawn for a candle light vigil where, after a moment of silence, they read real-life stories about some of the people affected by homelessness.
Some became homeless after being hit with hospital bills, evicted by landlords, or plagued by mental illness or addictions to drugs or alcohol. The vigil concluded with a prayer and a "shantytown."
This is the fourth annual "shantytown," where participants braved the bright MSC lights, swooshing fountains, and chilly night to sleep in cardboard boxes on the MSC lawn.
Cozene Watson, senior, photography, was one of the students who spent the night sleeping in a cardboard box. This was the second consecutive year he participated in the shantytown.
"I just want to know more about the homeless," Watson said. "It's hanging out with people you know and people you don't know. It took me a long time to get a good night's sleep."
"My hope is that students become more aware of this as one of the events we need to be concerned about," said the Rev. Bill Kempf, director of the Newman Center. "How do we get a place where everyone who chooses to can have a roof over their heads?"
Kempf recalled a time when a nun who was visiting from Africa looked out the window and wanted to know who lived in the nice "house."
The other nuns were confused when they looked out and did not understand what house she meant. That "house" was a garage.
"We have houses for our cars when we don't have houses for our people," Kempf said. "They're the invisible people among us. I am blessed to run into more because they come to our rectory. … It's one of those things that as a human being and a priest, we have so much wealth and build those homes and there's people out there who don't even have a place to sleep."
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