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Here’s an update on the Homeless Shelter Task Force, cross-posted with WFPL.
Wayside Christian Mission may legally be able to operate a homeless shelter in downtown Louisville by the end of the summer.
The Homeless Shelter Task Force was formed to address the gap in zoning laws that neither allowed nor prohibited Wayside’s proposed shelter at 2nd and Broadway. The task force’s final recommendation would allow shelters like Wayside’s in commercial spaces like downtown, and does not set a limit for how many shelters can be in a specific area.
“There are not distance mandates,” says Assistant Director of Planning and Design Services Dawn Warrick. “That was something the task force did discuss: whether or not there should be a requirement for a certain amount of distance to be mandated between various facilities.”
Warrick says the task force does recommend the city establish a licensing standard for shelters.
“We do business licensing for all types of activities within the community at this point in time,” she says. “You operate a restaurant, you have a business licenses, you operate a taxi service you have a business license.”
The task force also suggests that shelters operating in certain zoning areas follow specific quality standards. The recommendations now go to the Planning Commission. If approved, they will be sent to the Metro Council for final approval, which could come as early as July.
Wayside Director Nina Mosely told me last month that as soon as they opened their hotel operation downtown, the emergency shelters filled up immediately.
Now this from the CJ:
*Jefferson County Public Schools counted 9,023 homeless students during the 2008-09 school year, and educators project that the district is on pace to exceed that number during the current school year. Already, schools have seen about 800 more homeless children than the same time in the last school year.
*Volunteers of America says its emergency shelter and transitional apartments for homeless families, which can house 18 households, have been full since at least mid-2008 and since then, the number of families requesting housing aid has risen 21 percent. At the same time, the Salvation Army began a waiting list for its temporary apartments about four months ago, and is turning away four to five families a day, said Margaret Saunders, the agency’s director of transitional housing.
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Advocates blame the increases on worsening poverty rates and joblessness.
“We’re seeing a lot of middle-class families who never thought they would be faced with a homeless situation,” Saunders said.
Wayside Christian Mission is running a hotel. It can continue to do so as long as it gets a permit within 10 days of opening. That means they have to be approved by next weekend. Rick Redding reports on the preparations.
In fact, this afternoon Wayside personnel are meeting with members of the local Board of Health to go over the requirements to remain open.
According to state law, Harrison said, Wayside must apply for and be granted a permit from the state within 10 days of opening. The process will require inspections for safety and cleanliness. Once approved, hotels are inspected annually.
A few folks weighed in on this post about Wayside’s decision to run the old Hotel Louisville building as a hotel. Among them was ubud hotels bali, who says 129 American dollars is too much for a luxury room. This is spam, but I just think it’s funny considering the post it’s on.
On a related note, I wonder if any of Wayside’s supporters will rent out the $129 luxury rooms.
The Edit: WFPL's Gabe Bullard blogs the news 