Nearby firms oppose homeless-center site

LITTLE ROCK — Business owners in Little Rock’s industrial zone say they too oppose putting a homeless shelter in their backyard.

Local business owners joined advocates for the homeless, city directors and Mayor Mark Stodola on a tour Wednesday of 1421 E. Ninth St., a former state probation office that Stodola says is an ideal location for a center where homeless people can meet with caseworkers, do laundry or look for jobs.

Such a shelter is part of the city’s 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, but fulfilling the goal has been thwarted by a lack of funding and opposition from residents or businesses surrounding other proposed locations.

Ninth Street business owners, who say they only learned of the city’s interest in the building Tuesday, peppered the mayor with questions about neighborhood security.

“Are we going to have them out here on a mattress on the street in front of our business?” asked Dave Garner, a business owner who said that’s his perception of the streets surrounding the Salvation Army shelter on Markham Street.

“Absolutely not,” Stodola said.

The mayor told the crowd that he’s working on a busing plan of some kind to transport homeless people to and from the shelter, an idea that prompted City Director Erma Hendrix to say the city should look for a site in other parts of the city that are closer to where homeless people camp.

Hendrix, who represents downtown and east Little Rock, said her ward has its share of homeless shelters and doesn’t need any more. She’s repeatedly said the city should spend its money elsewhere and that she doesn’t consider homeless people who drift into Little Rock city residents.

Hendrix said Wednesday that she hasn’t gotten one positive phone call about the site. She called the mayor’s latest recommendation a “fight between us” - the latest sparring over Stodola’s insistence at opening a shelter in her ward.

“There’s probably no site other than in the middle of a cotton field somewhere that people wouldn’t take issue with,” Stodola said in response.

“This is by no means a decision. This is a possibility,” he said.

The final decision rests with city directors. And it also depends on whether the city has the money to buy the building, which is up for sale for $789,000.

“If we can’t afford it, it won’t happen,” Stodola said.

Realtors said the owner, Elgor Inc., is willing to cut the city a deal on the price but how much wasn’t revealed.

Little Rock will potentially have just under $1 million next year to spend on programming and a building.

The city has pooled its$200,000 for homeless services with $100,000 from North Little Rock to run a temporary day resource center north of the river. Both cities anticipate spending the combined $300,000 again next year, but hope that money will go to a permanent shelter.

Then this week, North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays announced plans to include an additional $200,000 in his city’s 2011 budget to help Little Rock buy a building.

Little Rock city directors also recently approved reallocating $477,582 in federal grants for homeless services and acquiring a building. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development still needs to approve the allocation.

Business owners on the tour Wednesday said they realize homelessness is a problem that needs to be addressed, but at the same time they’re trying to protect their own livelihoods.

Several steel manufacturers in the area are constantly broken into, and the employers said they fear that concentrating a large number of homeless people nearby would only add to their problems.

The 19,419-square-foot building sits between a railroad crossing and Garner’s Antique Brick and Block business. The smell of burning rubber from a nearby scrap-metal operation permeated the air Wednesday.

Garner suggested a vacant office and warehouse property off 145th Street as a more ideal location. Stodola said the shelter needs to be closer to the programs that serve homeless people, such as the Social Security office downtown.

Advocates for the homeless said the maze of a building on East Ninth Street appeared to offer enough space for caseworkers and job training.

The plumbing and electricity is updated. There is also enough room for beds - Stodola recently expanded his goal of opening a city-sponsored day center into also offering overnight shelter.

“I think it’s perfect,” said Pat Blackstone, who helped craft the 10-year plan.

“It encompasses all the things we talked about. ... It’s the space and they’re far enough from downtown and the opposition to downtown and it’s close enough to services,” she said.

Afte r the crowd left Wednesday, Stodola said he wasn’t surprised by the opposition. That is why he held off on disclosing any addresses he was looking at until a more solid plan was in place.

“There’s a typical fear factor,” he said. “They stereotype them as criminals.”

Over the next few weeks, Stodola anticipates talking more with business owners and city directors as well as residents who live several blocks from the site.

“I’m going to try and get a feel for whether this is something to continue to consider,” he said.

The mayor wasn’t sure if the property would need to be rezoned for a day shelter, but planning officials said city code requires a conditional use permit if the building is used for overnight shelter.