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ST. LOUIS — Advocates for a sweeping new plan to help the homeless once again pressed their case to wary aldermen Wednesday night, telling a committee that the city’s current approach simply cannot stand.

Homeless service providers said the changes would make it easier to get people the help they need. Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, who is carrying the legislation, promised long lists of proposed changes aimed at easing opponents’ concerns. And progressive activists said that if aldermen who campaigned as progressives didn’t back the bill, activists wouldn’t back them when they run for re-election.

“Inaction is inexcusable,� said Jake Lyonfields, one of the more vocal advocates on the issue.

The testimony at the second of three scheduled hearings on the bills marked the latest tension on an issue that has divided the board’s progressive Democrats. There is at least some sense on the board that more could be done to help the homeless. But bills that would make it easier to open shelters in neighborhoods across the city, and harder to close down tent encampments, have riled residents and met with opposition from Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and key aldermen like Michael Browning, of Forest Park Southeast, and Anne Schweitzer, of Boulevard Heights.

The bills would stop requiring shelter operators to get signatures from neighbors before starting up, and leave permitting decisions to city officials. Clearing an encampment would require a month’s advance notice so providers could find everyone shelter. And the city would have to set up its own campsites with security, sanitation and services for those don’t want to go to shelters.

At the hearing Wednesday, service providers like Anthony D’Agostino, of Peter & Paul Community Services, said the new bills would be big steps in the right direction. Right now, they said, it’s a constant struggle to find beds for everyone who needs them. Ad hoc encampment clearings make it harder for outreach workers to stay in touch with clients. And even when people are connected to help, they have to wait many months for housing.

Cynthia Duffe, who runs Gateway Housing First, said something has to change.

“Leadership has to step up with the policy changes that are needed to make it happen, and the resources required to carry it out,� she said.

Providers also said there are good reasons for the city to set up the kinds of encampments that it’s usually trying to remove. A privately financed effort that set up 40 tents in a warehouse north of downtown for a few months in late 2021 was a huge success, said Amanda Laumeyer, CEO of St. Patrick Center. St. Patrick workers got a couple of veterans into housing, and helped others get jobs and public housing vouchers.

Advocates on Wednesday went further, telling heartbreaking stories of people left out in the summer heat or winter cold, and urging aldermen to have the political courage to do something about it.

“We’re all going to have a day of destiny,� said the Rev. Larry Rice, the longtime preacher to the homeless. “Let’s get our priorities straight, and let’s start thinking about the people.�

Sonnier, the alderwoman, spoke at length about her willingness to tweak the bills to accommodate concerns, and breezed through a series of slides detailing her ideas. But she also railed against reticence to change, calling the petition process for permitting shelters “racist and classist� and telling colleagues they should stand up for what’s right even when it’s not popular.

It wasn’t clear the rhetoric changed minds.

Browning said he supports making it easier for shelters to open, but worries about losing the neighborhood petition process. He said he was also encouraged to hear changes would be made to the bills — one of which took heat for provisions exempting homeless people from public urination and aggressive panhandling laws. But he said he’d need to read the new bill first.

“The intent of the bill, while noble, really doesn’t matter,� he said. “What matters is what’s on the page.�