[Peace-discuss] Re: [Discuss] Safe Haven residents move inside church

[Karen Medina]

I realize the homeless issue in Champaign is not an anti-war issue,
but I see it mostly as a "we" and "they" viewpoint, very much like
war.

I stopped attending my church when it would not openly discuss the wars.
I am ashamed that it also won't stand up now and offer to take the
tent community for one month.
If all the churches in Champaign would take a month, the burden would
not fall too heavily on any one church.

-karen medina

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 8:28 AM, Brian Dolinar<briandolinar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Safe Haven residents move inside church
>
> By Mike Monson
>
> Friday August 21, 2009
>
> CHAMPAIGN – Heavy rains this week have forced the 10 to 15 residents of the
> Safe Haven tent community out of their tents at St. Mary Catholic Church and
> into the church's Oscar Romero Parish Center.
>
> And it looks like they'll be staying there for a while, as the east
> Champaign church doesn't want to defy a city order that the tent community
> must be dismantled by today.
>
> "I think the tent community will move indoors after Friday to avoid the
> wrath of the city," said the Rev. Tom Royer, pastor of the church at 612 E.
> Park St. "With this lousy weather, they've been staying indoors anyway."
>
> Royer said he still hopes city officials might be willing to discuss finding
> a permanent site for the tent community, where residents want to establish
> "micro houses" that sleep two people and could enable homeless residents to
> get through the winter.
>
> "We will comply with the hope the city won't wash its hands completely" of
> the homelessness problem, he said. "We want to work together with the
> community in hopes of coming to some solution."
>
> Royer also said he understood that Safe Haven organizers hoped to find an
> attorney to represent them.
>
> Safe Haven organizer Abby Harmon said Royer had promised he would shelter
> the Safe Haven residents for a 30-day period, which would end on Sept. 11.
>
> She said Safe Haven is looking for its next home and that two more homeless
> residents have recently joined the group.
>
> "We're looking for a willing property owner, wherever they may be," Harmon
> said.
>
> City Zoning Administrator Kevin Phillips had notified Royer in a letter
> received this week that allowing people to live in tents violated the city
> zoning ordinance, which requires people to live in structures, and that the
> church need to dismantle the tent community by today or face a potential
> fine of up to $750 per day.
>
> Phillips suggested one possible compromise this week, allowing the residents
> to stay inside at the parish center or the church itself. He said the
> multifamily zoning district where the church is located allows an emergency
> shelter for the homeless as a provisional use.
>
> Phillips said Thursday that, as long as the number of residents is less than
> 20, he thinks they can legally stay in the parish center.
>
> "If they're inside, that satisfies our request," he said. "They're OK for
> now."
>
> The Safe Haven issue was discussed the Champaign City Council and audience
> members at Tuesday night's meeting.
>
> Council member Michael La Due indicated he would be willing to support
> leniency in enforcing the requirement that Safe Haven residents must live
> inside a structure.
>
> "Isn't there some way we can ease that?" he asked. "I, for one, would be
> willing to entertain that."
>
> But council member Tom Bruno said it isn't a good idea to relax city
> standards that promote health and safety.
>
> "You're asking us ... to allow some people to live in substandard housing
> because it's the only housing they can afford," Bruno said. "Once we start
> doing that, how will we deal with the campus landlord who proposes putting
> too many people in an inadequate space?"
>
> --
> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
> 303 W. Locust St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
> briandolinar at gmail.com
>
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