Support for Homestead facility
After more than a decade of searching, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services (IFC) has found a location for a new shelter for homeless men. Once approved, the IFC will be able to permanently close the shelter in downtown Chapel Hill.
In August 2010, the chamber board unanimously adopted the following statement: “[T]he Board of Directors of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce endorse the closing of the men’s homeless shelter in Downtown Chapel Hill and the opening of a new facility on Homestead Road.â€
As a member of the Orange County 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, I believe that this relocation is good for our community and good for our business. One of our goals at the chamber is to help create a thriving, sustainable community and I believe that a new transitional-housing facility at this location is a better location for transitioning homeless men to housing and the closing of the existing facility is the right thing for the health of our downtown.
I urge concerned citizens to send an email of support to mayorandcouncil@townofchapelhill.org and tell them about your support for a new facility on Homestead Road.
Thank you in advance for your support and I hope to see you at the public hearing on Monday.
Aaron Nelson
President and CEO
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce
Don’t overlook the process
This is to show how disappointed we are to learn that the town is considering building the new shelter in the Homestead Park area. As Chapel Hill residents, we have some concerns:
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The neighborhoods around Homestead Park already experience more suburban crime than any other suburban area of Chapel Hill. This fact should be considered during next week’s hearing. For more information on Chapel Hill crime, go to nccrime.usÂ
Today the area around Homestead Park is already home to 123 overnight beds for detox, halfway, emergency and transitional social services. Residents in homeless and transitional housing are good people who seek support and rehabilitation, but many are disproportionately afflicted by alcoholism, drug abuse and mental health issues. It’s not wise to put so many in crisis within arm’s reach of each other.Â
The new men’s shelter, if located at the corner of Homestead Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, would exclude registered sex offenders from both its emergency and transitional programs. North Carolina law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a child-care facility and the proposed site would have three child-care facilities within 1,000 feet. That’s about 200 kids daily within 1,000 feet and doesn’t count kids who attend church programs and the hundreds of kids who play soccer at Homestead Park.Â
Homestead Park, one of the busiest and largest parks in the Chapel Hill system, is used daily by hundreds of residents for Rainbow and YMCA Soccer; school, church and adult baseball leagues; and by swim teams, families, dog-park users, joggers, skateboarders and playground kids. The proposed site of the men’s homeless shelter is 500 feet from Homestead Park.
We ask leaders of our community who may be passionately committed to helping the homeless not to overlook the public process that should guide us all. This process does not start with a special-use permit for an already selected parcel of land. Standards should be developed for community-wide application and a list of proposed sites throughout Orange County should be brought to the community for public discussion before any provider applies for a special-use permit.
April Zhong, Caroline Chen, Max Chen
Residents of the Parkside Subdivision
Benefit to us all
I am writing in support of the Inter-Faith Council’s plan to build its new Community House at 1315 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The new building and supportive programming will give homeless men the skills, support and care they need to change their lives. With the goal of returning program residents to fully functional positions in society, Community House is something that will benefit all of us.
The new Community House will be located near Homestead Park. The YMCA youth soccer league uses the soccer fields each Saturday to play an eight-week season each spring and fall. Close to 900 children participate in the league each week. I could not in good conscience support the new Community House if I thought it posed a danger to these children and their families.
One of the reasons that I have confidence in this project is that the YMCA has in place a long-standing invitation to residents of both the current Community House downtown and HomeStart, the IFC facility for homeless women and children located on Homestead Road. Over the years, Community House and HomeStart residents have joined us and it’s never created a problem. I hope with the recreational activities available to Community House residents both at the YMCA and in their new building, exercise will be an important part of their physical and spiritual healing.
Addressing homelessness is the responsibility of all members of our community. The IFC has consistently provided support to the disenfranchised in our community for nearly 50 years, bringing together individuals and congregations in this endeavor. I am grateful for the leadership role that the IFC provides and am proud to support this project.
Gerald K. Whortan
Executive Director/CEO
Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA
Support IFC’s New Community House
The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (IFC) provides an invaluable service by providing emergency shelter and transitional housing to men, women and children in our community. Many of these community members are our veterans, friends, family members and neighbors who have lost their jobs or homes, experienced domestic violence or sexual assault or have medical bills they cannot afford to pay. For this, IFC deserves our deepest gratitude and ongoing support.
IFC is proposing to build a new Community House on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near the corner of Homestead Road, which is an ideal location for many reasons. The land was generously provided by UNC and is conveniently located on a main thoroughfare and several public bus routes. The site is adjacent to the United Church of Chapel Hill, which is a longtime supporter of IFC, and is within walking distance of the Southern Human Services Center, where residents can access social, health and housing services.
The current Community House in downtown Chapel Hill is an emergency shelter; the new facility will be a 52-bed transitional-housing program providing long-term housing and access to essential services for homeless men. Residents will receive the resources they need – including education, job-training, health care and mental health care – to rebuild their lives, support themselves and live independently. IFC’s HomeStart program for women and children is a similar transitional-housing program that has a proven record of helping families move from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Thus, there is evidence that this model works.
IFC helps us all by helping those who have fallen on hard times. IFC needs and deserves our community’s support for this well-conceived and well-located project.
Sharon Coulter James
Chair of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness
You gotta love hypocrisy!
“the closing of the existing facility is the right thing for the health of our downtown. ” -Aaron Nelson
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Also, regarding Jerry Whortan’s letter…
Below is an email exchange with the author of this letter when asked about the same letter that appeared in the Chapel Hill News.
Note that it is well known among leaders that if you sign with your title and do not specify otherwise, then you are speaking for the organization. This typically means that the board of directors has formally adopted the stated position. However, this is not the case here, which is a serious faux pas.
Read more …
Please note that a significant number of the 1200 people that signed a petition opposing the shelter were parents with kids in the YMCA soccer program.
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Hi Jerry,
Was the position in the chapel hill news today a position adopted by the YMCA board? It wasn’t clear in the letter.
Thanks,
Mark
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Good Morning Mark
The position in the Chapel Hill News was mine and was not adopted as a board opinion.
Thank you for your interest.
Jerry