Hundreds of neighbors oppose the relocation of the InterFaith Council's Community House men's shelter to Homestead Road. But next-door neighbor United Church of Chapel Hill is not one of them.

The IFC plans to apply for a permit this summer to site a 52-bed shelter at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The 850-member United Church congregation voted unanimously this week to welcome the homeless shelter to the neighborhood.

"Our faith ... welcomes the stranger and sojourner," reads the church's resolution.
The IFC shelter started in a house on Wilson Street, adjacent to United Church's playground and daycare center before the church moved from Cameron Avenue to the outskirts of town.

"We lived together with people and families seeking assistance at our Wilson Street house over 25 years without incident," the resolution states.

But dozens of potential neighbors approached the Town Council Monday night to voice opposition to the siting, soon after launching the Web site, abettersite.org.

Neighbor Mark Peters accused the Town Council of making a "backroom deal" with UNC-Chapel Hill to relocate homeless men from downtown to the northern area.

Opponents of siting the InterFaith Council Community House men's shelter near Homestead Park have launched a new Web site detailing their concerns.

"Today, around Homestead Park, an area about 1/5th of a square mile, houses 110 halfway and transitional beds to accommodate residents who struggle with homelessness, drug/alcohol addiction and mental illness," the site states. "Asking our community to absorb another homeless shelter is simply callous to the needs of the families and students that live here as well as those who use the park."

The IFC has maintained its own Web site for months, responding to citizens' concerns. The IFC recently published two studies by criminologist Christa Polczynski Olson, who analyzed Chapel Hill police data on behalf of the agency.

One study showed that crime concentrates at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, within one block of the current IFC shelter, but Olson could not determine to what extent shelter residents are responsible for that crime. The other study concluded that, contrary to opponents' claims, the area around the proposed shelter has very little crime.

"Even with this location containing so many social service agencies," Olson wrote, "this location ... has a much lower density of crime than the locations with the highest density of crime in all of Chapel Hill."

While political candidates in Orange County are awaiting the results of their election primaries Tuesday night, the Chapel Hill Planning Board will be handling a political hot potato of their own: They'll start developing guidelines for siting a homeless shelter in town.

These guidelines will help the Town Council in its review of the forthcoming permit application from the InterFaith Council for Social Service. IFC plans a new men's Community House at the corner of Homestead Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near United Church of Chapel Hill.

The Town Council has already reviewed a concept plan for the new shelter. IFC leaders have been meeting with neighbors to discuss their concerns about crime and the concentration of social-service agencies near Homestead Road.

In January, the council lifted the 25-bed cap on shelter size, preferring to limit capacity through the permitting process. IFC regularly goes beyond the 25-man limit in the current shelter on West Rosemary Street, and the building's owner, the Town of Chapel Hill, wants the building back for its own office-space needs.

The Planning Board meets Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Town Hall.

Dozens of neighbors demanded answers Monday night as the InterFaith Council for Social Service hosted a listening session on its proposed Community House, a transitional men's homeless shelter at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Homestead Road.

IFC has been locked in conflict with neighbors for months, but IFC director Chris Moran said Monday he heard some new concerns: Would Community House serve as an emergency shelter as it does in its current location on West Rosemary Street? Will a new facility attract homeless men from throughout the region? Will it become something other than transitional housing in the future? Would IFC consider building multiple smaller shelters throughout Orange County?

"We're going to take serious responsibility [for these questions]," Moran told about 50 neighbors and IFC volunteers who gathered at the Southern Human Services Center Monday. "We want to honor this process."

IFC will host its third and final community discussion on Tuesday, April 13 at 7 p.m. at the same location. It aims to submit a permit application to Town Hall later this spring.

Neighbors complained that IFC did not respond to their questions immediately, instead promising to respond next week. IFC did respond to the neighbors concern about emergency needs trumping the structured, transitional programming designed to help men out of homelessness. IFC leaders said the new Community House would provide space for 17 men needing emergency shelter, on top of the 52 beds for men in the transitional program.

"Seventeen beds," said neighbor Tina CoyneSmith. "We feel like that's a real slippery slope. ... We keep hearing that this is not an emergency shelter. Saying it's not an emergency shelter is tantamount to a lie."