Residents rally against site off Homestead
By Kirk Ross, Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council began its official review Monday night of a plan by the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service to move the men’s homeless shelter to the intersection of Homestead Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, site of the old Duke Power facility.
The IFC wants to build a new 16,000-square-foot facility with a health clinic and 50 beds, and filed a concept plan with the town. The concept plan process offers members of the town council and town advisory boards a look at a new project to provide feedback before a full application is completed and submitted.
At the meeting at Town Hall, IFC executive director Chris Moran opened his presentation by thanking the town for its support for the shelter, which has been located for 24 years at the old Chapel Hill Town Hall, at the corner of Rosemary and Columbia streets.
He said that although the shelter has been in that spot for more than two decades, it was always considered temporary.
“You have been very gracious to provide us this space for 24 years,†Moran said, “but our goal has always been to provide a permanent facility.â€
The new site is on property recently acquired by UNC. The university has promised to provide a $1 per year lease on the shelter land.
Moran said the model for the new facility would be similar to the IFC’s Project Homestart facility, which has operated on Homestead Road for 11 years.
“This is not to be construed as a flop house or a place where people can come and go at will,†Moran said.
Several residents near the proposed site said they were concerned that the site is a done deal. Tina Coyne-Smith, wearing red, as were many of her neighbors from Parkside and other areas near the proposed site, said she was worried about an increase in crime and the danger posed by shelter residents.
“It is at best unfair and at worst dangerous to place these populations in such close proximity to parks, to daycares, to residential neighborhoods,†she said.
Coyne-Smith said she and her neighbors were worried about what will happen to Homestead Road Park.
“The homeless men who are denied access to the shelter will take shelter in Homestead Park,†she said.
Several shelter volunteers and members of IFC congregations lined up in support of the move, with several conveying their personal experiences as shelter workers.
Henry Lister, a member of the United Church of Chapel Hill, said during his years as an overnight volunteer he dealt mostly with people coming home tired after work, helping them get fed and rested so they could return to work the next day.
“Not once did I ever have an encounter or a confrontation with any resident that made me in any way compromised of my safety,†he said. “They’re human beings.â€
Robert Seymour, retired minister of Binkley Baptist Church and a founding board member of the IFC, said the site was an example of cooperation between the town, the university and the faith community.
The present shelter, he said, is inadequate and often overcrowded on a cold winter night.
Seymour said in all of his years volunteering at the shelter, he never felt unsafe. “There are many false stereotypes about people who are homeless,†he said.
Homelessness is not a law-and-order issue, Seymour said, “it is an issue of people who are down on their luck. It is primarily an economic issue. [The shelter] is a place for people who have fallen through the cracks.â€
Turning to those who had spoken out against the shelter, he quoted Franklin Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.â€
Call It What It Is: Free Land
On the surface, it is perfectly reasonable to agree with the IFC’s decision to take University’s offer to lease the land at a rate of $1 per year. However, there continue to be many unanswered questions that when addressed will shed an entirely different light onto the issue. I’ve listed some, but not all of those questions below.
1. Why is University being so generous?
2. What is University getting out of this extremely philanthropic act?
3. What are the criteria Mr. Moran states the IFC used to select this area?
4. What criteria were used to select the previous sites that were ultimately rejected?
5. What is to happen to the men who are turned away from using one of the 20 emergency beds?
6. How will the IFC and Town keep them from taking up residence in the woods and Homestead Park adjacent to the proposed shelter?
So many questions, so few answers, so little transparency. I personally call upon Mayor Foy, the Town Council, and Mr. Moran to take the lead in addressing these issues in an objective and transparent manner.
The good of a very few constituents should not, in good conscience, come before the good of the many. This is one of the basic premises that make living in Chapel Hill something to be proud of. Please do not brake from this premise and make a decision that appears to be so clearly based on economics rather on the needs of the entire town.