TRI In The News

Coalition of Waynesboro Churches Seeking City's OK to Open Homeless Shelters

December 12, 2011

From News Leader

The large room in the youth building at Basic United Methodist Church is cluttered with used furniture to be donated to anyone who needs it.

But by the first week of January, the furniture will be cleared out and the space with a cozy fireplace will have 20 cots and offer a hot meal for homeless adults in the area who need shelter from the cold.

At least that's the plan if the church can get its conditional use application for the temporary shelter approved by the city.

Basic Methodist is part of a new church coalition formed last year to help homeless people in the Waynesboro area. It will be the first of what church leaders hope eventually will be at least six sites that will offer people temporary shelter during the winter.

Modeled after the Harrisonburg and Rockingham Thermal Shelter program, each Waynesboro church would take turns hosting people for seven nights through the winter.

The coalition of churches, Waynesboro Area Refuge Mission or WARM, includes numerous churches of various denominations, some of whom will help with providing meals in the evening and continental breakfast in the morning.

Basic Methodist's efforts to help people in the city began last year, said the Rev. Don Gibson.

"We began picking up food at a local restaurant and feeding people," he said. "That's when we started to build a relationship with people living in tents on Broad Street near the river."

A pattern has emerged along the river in which the Waynesboro police breaks up the tent groups that locate there, and then over time they return.

"There is no doubt that there is a need here," said the Rev. Howard Miller, coalition chair and pastor of Waynesboro Mennonite Church.

But the coalition has run into some complications with the city. City zoning laws prohibit religious institutions from operating homeless shelters. But coalition leaders say it doesn't specifically prohibit temporary shelters like the program they've proposed.

City manager Jim Shaw points to a footnote next to the term "transient lodging or shelters" in the code referencing the widely used North American Industry Classification System. That system more broadly defines homeless shelters to include temporary shelters.

Still, church leaders like Miller not only disagree with the city's reading of the code, but also with the code generally impeding on churches' efforts to help the needy — a biblical mandate and therefore a fundamental tenet of their religious beliefs, he said. At the coalition's request, an attorney with the civil liberties advocacy group, The Rutherford Institute, has weighed in on the issue, questioning the constitutionality of the city's zoning laws.

In the meantime, Basic Methodist is one of the only churches so far that is located in a zoning district that would allow it to at least apply for a conditional use permit. Other sites that the coalition were originally proposed, located mostly in and around downtown Waynesboro and on Delphine Avenue, are in districts that prohibit homeless shelters.

Other churches in districts that would allow them with special exception permits have stepped up to apply, Miller said. A public hearing on the Basic Methodist application is scheduled for Monday night at city hall.

Miller said the coalition has begun talking with area social service agencies and nonprofits about connecting homeless people with any number of services.

Valley Mission officials also look forward to partnering with the new coalition, said Scarlett Danraj, director of programs and volunteers at the Valley Mission in Staunton.

"I think it's a wonderful project," she said. "We're are very excited to have that additional resource in the area."

The 126-bed facility, with sleeping arrangements divided between men, women and parents with kids, has never been filled to capacity, a common misconception, she said.

The region, however, would benefit greatly from a program like the one WARM has proposed.

"There are folks who aren't comfortable living in a shelter setting," she said. "That's a common issue for people who are homeless and many things contribute to that."

Valley Mission offers a structured program with guidelines to keep it operating smoothly and to provide the safest possible environment for the men, women and children who stay there.

She said Valley shelters some people who aren't interested in plugging into programs and services - they just want a warm place to lay their head.

"Those are people who will be much more comfortable. The churches are more transitional option for them. They're folks we see who stay here two or three nights. Then they're gone for several days, return again," she said.

"Then we have people who stay a long stretch," she said. "Many are trying to work the program, who are linking with services in the area, who are working to save money and get back on their feet."

Homelessness is a complex issue with many causes at work - undiagnosed and untreated mental illness, substance abuse, domestic abuse, unemployment and down economy, Danraj said.

"Homelessness is not the problem," she said. "It's the symptom of so many other things going on in people's lives.

Added Danraj: "We want to support the Waynesboro (coalition). It's hard to see those faces come in the door, seeing kids without stability, seeing parents struggle. This is not a field you want to be alone in."