There is an important vote coming up at City Hall on Wednesday, 10/23/13, 11:00 AM. If you live in Lumberton and care about the safety of children using three established facilities downtown, our homeless, our public library, or our historic downtown, you should read this and get involved.
The Lumberton City Council will vote regarding a “conditional use” permit that would allow a homeless shelter with a capacity to house 45 people up to 90 days to be built on 2nd Street (between Chestnut and Walnut Street) in downtown Lumberton. The new facility will be much larger than the current Lumberton Christian Care Center on 1st Street (between Walnut and Pine Street).
Executive Summary: (if you are in a hurry, just read this paragraph)
There are two groups of people trying to do a good thing for the community. One group‘s mission is to serve the homeless and the hungry, and they need a new kitchen facility and shelter. The other group’s mission is to bring economic/commercial development to our historic downtown, which will increase the tax base for the city. Our City Council should find a way to accommodate both groups. Our downtown is just beginning to be revitalized. Building a large shelter in the Historic District at this stage of the revitalization process will likely end any new private commercial development designed to attract tourists from out of town. Proponents of the shelter prefer that the new shelter be within a mile (walking distance) of the old shelter. This can be accomplished without building in the historic district. Moving the shelter is the best solution even if it delays construction. Grants will available next year, according to state officials. Finally, placing such a facility directly adjacent to three children’s facilities is not a safe or prudent plan.
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| Above is a map, showing the current location of the soup kitchen and small shelter (bottom right), and the new proposed location for a MUCH larger facility, directly adjacent to three facilities that serve children. |
Why bother? Who cares?
This is a complex issue that may profoundly affect the future of historic downtown Lumberton and the safety of children served by three existing children’s facilities within 300 ft. of the proposed site. My research on this topic included going to City Hall to read the conditional use application. I have spoken with our City Manager, members of the City Council, the Director of Lumberton Christian Care Center, architects from the Wooten Company, and an official with the Supportive Housing Development Office at NC Housing Finance Agency (who is providing the majority of the grant/loan for the project). I have spoken with the directors of both the Library and the Partnership for Children, and with volunteers at the Exploration Station.
Who are the homeless?
The majority of the homeless population either 1) suffer from mental/psychiatric disabilities (depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, substance-abuse disorders, and manic-depression are the most common diagnoses) or 2) are ineligible for public housing (felons, active substance-abusers, sex-offenders, etc.). Sex-offenders makeup a fast growing portion of the homeless due to the effectiveness of the online sex-offender databases. Shunned by their family and barred from most housing projects, they often end up homeless. North Carolina has over 19,000 registered sex-offenders, and hundreds are homeless. ALL of these people need care and shelter. However, any shelter or soup kitchen that serves this population should be placed at least 500 ft (or 1000 ft) from facilities that serve our children. Earlier this month a toddler in NY and four adults were stabbed or slashed by a homeless mentally disabled man wielding half of a pair of scissors.
Proponents of the shelter say “don’t worry about that, everyone staying at the shelter will have a police background check”.
There are three problems with this reasoning:
1) The new larger soup kitchen can serve up to 95 per day. and does NOT require background checks of anyone. The meals are served during the day when children are often going to and from the adjacent facilities.
2) Our background-check system is a dysfunctional patchwork that is only partially effective; and identity theft is common.
3) People who are dropped off at the shelter, or walk there, but are turned away because they have a criminal record, are drunk, high, etc. are of much greater concern than the ones who pass the background check and are admitted to the shelter.
Is it a “Homeless Shelter”?
In conversations with proponents of the shelter, I have referred to the new facility as a “homeless shelter”-- and been emphatically corrected (“It’s NOT a ‘homeless’ shelter”). Margrit Bergholz in Raleigh, a Senior Supportive Housing Development Officer at the NC Housing Finance Agency, who reviewed and approved the application for the $600,000 grant/loan for this project told me she expects the new facility will house what the general public think of as the homeless, but more precisely :
“Eligible populations [for the shelter] are homeless or non-homeless households that require supportive services, including persons with mental, physical, or developmental disabilities; persons with substance use disorders; persons diagnosed with AIDS and related diseases; and special populations on a case-by-case basis.”
Other proponents of the shelter have told me that we have a great need for a homeless shelter, that there are groups of people living in tents in the woods by the Interstate, men living in the old water plant on Water Street, etc. I believe them and I agree our community needs a shelter for them. But then, why am I told by city officials that this proposed shelter is “not for people like that” but for “families whose car breaks down on the highway or their house burns down.”
One must ask:
1) Why, at taxpayers’ expense, are we planning to build a $1.1 million facility that won’t shelter our homeless?
2) Do we need a facility approved by the City to house 45 people for 90 days in order to take care of people whose car breaks down, house burns down, etc. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to house them in one of our many inexpensive hotels along I-95?
Will this shelter house our homeless? It’s a simple question, but no one will give it a straight answer.
Why is the proposed new site where it is?
Two reasons: 1) Lumberton Christian Care Center wanted a new facility within “walking distance” of the old facility, and 2) the City owned an empty lot on 2nd Street.
Is this a good location for a shelter?
2nd Street, where the proposed shelter would be, carries a high-volume of traffic, as it also is state highway 41 and 72 in this part of town. It’s not well-suited to a restful shelter. There will be loud highway traffic going by at all hours of the night. The Greyhound bus station is 110 ft away. The CSX train station is 430 ft. away. The site is much better suited for commercial zoning.
What about adjacent children’s facilities?
Many states, counties, and cities have ordinances requiring a minimum of 500 ft or 1000 ft between the perimeter of a homeless shelter/soup kitchen and a school, park, or daycare facility. The proposed location for the new shelter is directly adjacent to the Robeson County Partnership for Children which is visited by 10 children per day who come there for reading workshops, speech therapy, etc.. Next to that building, is the Exploration Station, which is visited by 50 children per day. Across the street from that building is the Public Library, which has a large children’s section and is visited by 40 to 80 children per day. All three of these buildings, which expressly serve the needs of our children, are within 300 ft of the proposed homeless shelter. Placing a homeless shelter and soup kitchen this close to three building designed for children is a recipe for tragedy.
Proposed capacity too large for Lumberton’s needs?
The current facility on 1st Street, Lumberton Christian Care Center, can house approximately five (5) homeless people in emergencies. The current policy of the Christian Care Center is that people can stay there for a “few days”. The initial proposal for the new shelter was to have a capacity of 15. Now, what is pending before our City Council is a permit to house up to 45 people. Why 45? …to meet the requirements to receive a $600,000 loan. To get this money, the city has to approve the shelter to house 45 people for up to 90 days. It seems money from Raleigh is what is driving the large size of this shelter, not our local need.
Location: Bad for Lumberton Historic Commercial District
Within 500 ft of the Downtown Plaza are more than 80 commercial structures dating from 1841 to 1941, that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Based on verbal and written commitments from the City of Lumberton for the “revitalization of downtown Lumberton” and maintaining “the historic architecture of downtown while increasing economic growth,” investors have actually begun spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate buildings and open businesses downtown.
Placing a homeless shelter in the downtown commercial district will dramatically reduce further private commercial investment in the area. This will negatively impact property values and the City will collect less in taxes.
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The proposed new site is within 500 ft of the center of the Downtown Plaza, which is the heart of the Historic Commercial District.
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Hidden Costs to the Community
In 2001, a University of Pennsylvania study that examined 5,000 homeless people with mental illnesses in New York City found they cost taxpayers an average of $40,500 a year for their use of emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, shelters, and prisons. Has anyone stopped to consider these costs? By building a “oversized” facility, are we going to attract homeless people from outside of our community? What affect will this have on the use of our public library? When it becomes a day-facility for the homeless, will children still go there and develop a love of reading? Residents of the homeless shelter must leave the housing area at 8:00 AM each morning and can’t return until evening. Where are they going to spend the day?
Summary
Our City leaders need to find a better location for a new shelter, even if it delays the construction by a year. In the long run, a safer location outside of our small historic district will be better for everyone.
Take Action now:
1) Call your City Councilman (phone numbers below) and leave this short message: “For the safety of our children, and for the betterment of our historic downtown, please move the location of the new shelter.”
2) Please share this link on Facebook or with anyone you think might be interested.
3) Please come to the hearing at City Hall at 11:00 AM on Wednesday October 23rd.
Personally, I think a much better location would be near the Church & Community Center at the old Ford dealership, which is only 0.7 miles (walking distance) from the proposed location, and also closer and more convenient to the beautiful new Social Services building.
Thank you for reading and taking action.
Jim Parker, MD
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Don Metzger 734-8464 Councilman - Precinct 1
John Robinson 671-0088 Councilman - Precinct 2
Jackie E. Taylor 738-4389 Councilman - Precinct 3
Harry Ivey 739-2901 Councilman - Precinct 4
John Cantey, Jr. 739-9511 Councilman - Precinct 5
Robert L. Jones 739-3505 Councilman - Precinct 6
Leon Maynor 738-9742 Councilman - Precinct 7
Erich Hackney 734-0209 Councilman - Precinct 8
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http://homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/hrc_factsheet.pdf
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http://homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/hrc_factsheet.pdf
