IFC shelter relocation process draws criticism

A highly controversial Chapel Hill homeless shelter is in the spotlight again, but this time the heat is focused on a neighborhood planning committee.

At a Monday night meeting, the Chapel Hill Town Council heard a presentation from Mark Peters, a member of the Homestead community, which will house the new shelter.

The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service men’s homeless shelter is located at 100 W. Rosemary St., but will move to a larger space at 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. within the next few years.

At the meeting, Peters voiced concern about the process a development committee has taken in creating a Good Neighbor Plan. The plan will define how the shelter will interact with surrounding neighborhoods. The town council required its creation when it approved the new shelter in May.

Peters said meetings held by the developers of the plan have lacked openness and he did not feel welcomed.

He said he was also concerned that the development committee did not have a diverse range of opinions.

“We are concerned if you look at the list of (people invited), they were stacked with supporters (for the shelter),” he said.

He requested that meetings held by the plan’s development committee be more open in the future.

“The developer should meet in a neutral location, invite more people who spoke against the shelter, and they should have meetings that comply with open meetings law,” he said.

Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council, said the process has been open and the committee has tried to involve the community as much as possible.

“Our meetings have always been open and will continue to be,” he said. “Our purpose is to promote good neighborhood relations and ongoing communications about our programs.”

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said although he does support openness, the meetings are not required to be open because they are not held by the town.

He said debating that doesn’t help to move the project along.

“There has to be a point of compromise,” he said.

The Controversy

The new shelter location met controversy earlier this year because of its location near family neighborhoods.

Peters and other members of the Homestead community started ABetterSite.org when the process began in order to oppose the shelter’s move.

Peters said the group is concerned that locating the shelter in Homestead neighborhood would threaten the community’s security.

But Moran said the new transitional homeless shelter will be different than the current Rosemary emergency shelter.

“The transitional shelter is a special program for men who want to break the cycle of homelessness,” he said.

“The emergency shelter is a temporary place for people to come to be safe.”

The council will review the Good Neighbor Plan at a Sept. 26 meeting.

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