The People's Church of Dover has come under fire from Dover city officials that could force some of its homeless assistance to come to an end. Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush talks with Spotlight Delaware reporter Maggie Reynolds about the conflict and the future of the church. The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM.
RUSH A controversy is brewing over the homeless program provided by the People's Church in Dover. This is Don Rush. The town has received a series of complaints about the church by nearby residents as city council denied a $47,000 grant request. In our partnership with Spotlight Delaware, we talked with reporter Maggie Reynolds about the developing story.
REYNOLDS: The People's Community Center is part of this church in Dover called The People's Church, and it provides overnight shelter during the winter month. So it's kind of like the Code Purple model, but Code Purple is only when temperatures go below freezing. Whereas the People's Church operates every night between December and the end of March providing overnight shelter to men in Dover that need it. And they serve probably 50, maybe more than 50 men on average a night. And then they also do daily meals, which continue throughout the year, and then offer some other kind of case management and support for homeless people outside of just the overnight shelter.
RUSH: So what is the character in terms of the complaints that they have received, or at least the city council has certainly received?
REYNOLDS: So there have been kind of an outpouring of complaints from residents that are on South Bradford Street, which is the street that the People's Church is located on, saying that the shelter is attracting a lot of unwanted loitering, drug users, prostitution, just like other behaviors on their street that are really making it hard for the residents to stay and feel comfortable in their neighborhood. And so there's kind of this discrepancy because the church and the shelter say that they don't want these people here either. These people are not ones that are using the church's services. They just so happen to be on this street because it's an area that for a long time has been associated with a lot of drug use and kind of other safety concerns. But residents feel like it has to be associated with the shelter and they're just fed up with that.
RUSH: So speaking of authority, I understand that the church may very well take some kind of application [with the zoning comission.] What's all that about and is there any prospect that that would succeed?
REYNOLDS: One of the issues that was raised by some of the residents and by that Tidemark Construction Company that threatened a lawsuit is that the church is not zoned properly for some of the homeless services it's providing... specifically to be operating an overnight shelter. And so the Dover City solicitor, Dan Griffith, sent a letter to the church telling them that they would need to apply for a conditional use application from the City Planning Commission in order to continue functioning as an overnight shelter. And so the church's lead pastor, pastor Hodge said that he's somewhat concerned by this, not super concerned because the letter gave them a 14 day buffer period to continue operating until they would need to apply for that approval. And so that allowed them to continue through the end of March, which is when their winter shelter stops operating for the season. So now the hurdle will be the shelter applying for that conditional use to the Planning Commission. It's not clear how the Planning Commission will vote on this. I mean, if they have a similar perspective to City Council, unsurprisingly, they probably would not approve it. But the pastor didn't rule out the possibility of taking this to the court. It's ruled down by the Planning Commission. He said that they have found examples in quite a few other cities and towns of this argument for churches and their homeless shelters that they're not zoned properly - and that courts usually rule in favor of the church operating a shelter.
RUSH: Spotlight Delaware reporter Maggie Reynolds on the controversy brewing over the Homeless program provided by The People's Church in Dover. The full interview can't be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM, this is Don Rush for Delmarva Public Media.
