We Live Here

The Grove neighborhood is in a part of St. Louis that has seen an uptick in new housing and business development. The changes have been a blessing and a curse. While many in the area welcome the investments, there are concerns that rising housing costs are pushing out longtime residents. On this episode, we listen to stories of those who live, work, worship and teach in the area about how they've seen the neighborhood change.

It's an open secret that the nation's housing voucher (section 8) program has its issues. And that glaringly, a program intended to give people choice often doesn't, because turns out, many landlords on the private market aren’t rushing to participate and take housing subsidies, no matter that they're backed by Uncle Sam. In St. Louis, it leads to this data point: just 7 percent of housing voucher holders live in "high opportunity areas." But very quietly over the past year, a pilot program here -- one of only a handful like it in the country -- has been trying to change that

The specter of Pruitt-Igoe still looms over St. Louis. The massive 1950s era public housing complex suffered under disinvestment and bad public policy. Ultimately, officials literally blew the whole thing up. Since then, the focus of public housing has shifted to the Section 8 voucher program and smaller developments. Yet, the model of large public housing complexes is still very much alive today. From mice to mold, the problems facing St. Louis’ aging public housing complexes is long. And there’s not much funding to fix a backlog of issues. On this episode, we tell you what life is like for our neighbors living in two of the last remaining vestiges of St. Louis’ public housing past.

Segregation is systemic. We know that. But who powers these systems? People. In this episode, we zoom in on a group that holds immense power in guiding where people choose to live and raise families.Today’s show is about real estate agents. And what happens when some try to make amends for their industry’s past transgressions by focusing on a single St. Louis neighborhood.

Rosetta Watson has won her fight against the city of Maplewood, Mo., which kicked her out of town after she generated too many calls to police while dealing with an abusive ex-boyfriend. Now what? We catch up with her, give her case some national context and chart out what may come next for the people challenging these nuisance and crime free laws.

We’re interrupting our normal storytelling podcast schedule for...some breaking news. Earlier this season we brought you the story of Rosetta Watson, a woman suing in federal court after she says she was kicked out of Maplewood, Mo. for calling police too many times for protection from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Two days ago we got a tip that Maplewood had settled with Ms. Watson, who is set to receive a six-figure settlement. And the town’s city council voted to move forward with changes to their nuisance ordinance. On this episode bring you the latest news out of the leafy suburb of Maplewood.

J.D. and Ethel Shelley wanted a better home for their children. They were crammed into a small apartment in downtown St. Louis, but had saved enough money to buy a nice, two apartment building in a quiet neighborhood in north St. Louis called the Greater Ville. However, racially restrictive covenants barred the Shelleys, who were black, from owning the home. So in 1945 a white realtor bought the home from the Kraemers, who were white, and then quickly signed the deed over to the shelleys. When the Kraemers found out, they filed a lawsuit to get the Shelleys kicked out. The case made its way up the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1948 that enforcing restrictive such racial restrictive covenants was unconstitutional in St. Louis and the rest of the country. And while historians may get the facts and significance of the case right, there are details and human truths that are best expressed by family members. On this episode, Kameel and Tim listen to the descendants of J.D. and Ethel Shelley tell the story of their family’s place in American history.

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled on a case we highlighted at the beginning of our season. That of Latasha Johnson, whose eviction case made it to the state's highest court because of it's importance to tenants rights.. And the ruling, issued in a holiday news dump, does indeed change some things. Short story: The court ruled for Johnson's landlord. But it also laid out some really important new guidelines for tenants rights. Only problem ... they do nothing to change Johnson's situation or expunge the eviction from her record. In other words, the ruling is a mixed bag.

Eltoreon Hawkins always thought he would be a cop. That's how he wanted to serve his community. But he quickly became disillusioned with the criminal justice system he wanted to see reformed. So he's turned his efforts closer to home. specifically, to real estate. And what started out as a plan to secure a future for himself and his family has turned into a mission for this 20-something: taking back his neighborhood, one vacant house at a time.