LR says city will manage shelter

LITTLE ROCK — The Union Rescue Mission will not run the Little Rock Day Resource Center for the homeless, city officials confirmed.

The city had offered a $300,000 contract to the Union Rescue Mission, a faith-based organization that offers shelter to the homeless, recovering addicts and victims of domestic violence in a building across the street from the city day center on Confederate Boulevard.

The city bought the day center building from the Union Rescue Mission for about $200,000, and representatives from both the city and the mission said Thursday that they plan to continue cooperating to provide comprehensive services for the homeless.

Several members of the community, along with the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, have raised concerns over the past few weeks about the Union Rescue Mission’s faith-based hiring practices. Employment advertisements from the mission required the new hires to have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, live under the authority of the Scripture, have a professional and personal life reflecting Christian character, and be willing to sign a statement of faith.

City officials, including City Attorney Tom Carpenter, said they believed the mission qualified for a federal exemption as a faith-based organization allowing it to hire based on similar faith. Carpenter also said in previous interviews that the workers would not have been city employees but would have been contracted to perform a service for the city.

ACLU attorneys said the agency would file any legal action necessary to oppose the contract between the mission and the city.

“What matters is that the city was preparing to contract with somebody who discriminates based on religion,” said Rita Sklar, the executive director of the state chapter of the ACLU. “We can rest assured that no one will be discriminated against in terms of hiring and in terms of care for a homeless person.”

Mayor Mark Stodola said the decision not to contract with the Union Rescue Mission was not based on the objections to the group’s faith-based hiring. He said the city could not reach an agreement with the mission on certain aspects of the contract.

“One of the things that they have decided is that there needs to be a director hired above and beyond the potential contract with the Union Rescue Mission, which pushes any budget and contributions we received beyond our allocation,” he said.

“Their board also raised some concerns about funding to staff the center on weekends and holidays - possibly to at least serve a meal on Saturday and Sunday - which is something we need to consider. People don’t stop being homeless on weekends and holidays, so that’s a concern we worked on.”

William Tollett, executive director of the Union Rescue Mission, said the contract negotiations have always been friendly and reiterated that the city did not raise concerns about the group’s faith-based hiring.

“Our board felt in the contract that there should be a manager or supervisor over the day center, because they did not believe that I have the time to be with that facility throughout the day to manage that program and manage our programs,” he said.

“This was strictly a business issue. We will continue to take a strong stance to collaborate with the city and any other service providers to make sure the homeless, addicted, and domestically abused women and children are served with just as much integrity as they always have been from the Union Rescue Mission.”

Stodola said he has already asked the city’s Human Resources Department to draft employment advertisements for the necessary positions to run the shelter. He said the city would staff the center for the time being, although he hoped to find a nonprofit willing to run the center in the foreseeable future.

The day center was designed to provide daytime services for Little Rock and North Little Rock’s homeless populations, including medical care, employment help and a place to get mail, do laundry and get a hot meal.

The center has been in the works for years, with the city having difficulty finding a location for the center, then construction problems that caused multiple delays. The center was to open at the end of this month, but with the need to put out employment notices and find a director, Stodola said it may be another month before doors open.

“We’re going to do everything we can to get it open as quickly as we can,” he said. “We’re going to try to expedite the hiring of these employees, and I’m going to be working in earnest to get a nonprofit formed or interested in coming to run the center. This is really the best route in the long run.”