A public legislative hearing Monday morning laid bare the extent of a capital city clash among parents at a prominent private school in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, local businesses, churches and the city of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
The hearing was about a bill that would restrict where homeless shelters and encampments can exist in West Virginia, but speakers unpacked the dueling interests that have put a municipal issue at the center of a statewide legislative agenda.
Of the 18 people who addressed lawmakers, 13 of them asked the Legislature to reject House Bill 4753, saying it is based on wrongheaded stereotypes about unhoused people and infringes on the First Amendment rights of religious organizations to practice their faith through service.
Jeff Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches, said the state doesn’t restrict where churches that practice snake handling as part of their faith can be located. He added that he doesn’t understand why his church’s ability to practice its faith is being considered for restriction.
“It doesn’t matter that a church is 10 feet from a school, 100 feet from a school, 1,000 feet from a school, the right to handle snakes during worship is still guaranteed,†said Allen, who also addressed the House Judiciary Committee last week. “Yet, if this bill passes, my church will not be able to provide temporary housing for a homeless veteran, a victim of domestic violence or someone who has lost their home to a fire or flood.â€
The five people who addressed the committee supporting the bill included parents of students attending Sacred Heart Grade School, in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, a local business owner and a member of Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church, where a temporary shelter for homeless people previously had been proposed and supported by the city of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
The parents told lawmakers they encounter homeless people leaving shelters and going to Manna Meal, a soup kitchen operated from St. John’s Episcopal Church, less than a block away from Sacred Heart, daily as they drop off and pick up their children from school.
The parents said they often encounter people shouting at them and their children, whom they said have witnessed and been subjected to physical assaults as well as people exposing themselves to them and their children.
“Some mornings, our administration, our janitors, they get to school, there are people bathing in our church fountains,†said Danielle Wade, a parent to three Sacred Heart students. “According to the city, there’s nothing that can be done, we should be more compassionate, we should be more helpful. I am one of the most compassionate people you will meet. I will give anything to anybody — the shirt off my back, money, anything — but when it involves the safety of my children, you have crossed the line. These services need to be moved away from schools.â€
HB 4753 would prevent municipalities from authorizing or permitting homeless encampments within 1,000 feet of a school or licensed child care facility
If it becomes law, the bill would make it so that anyone could file a lawsuit and seek an injunction to stop or remove a homeless encampment or temporary housing for homeless people if it’s found to be in violation of the provisions of the bill.
The bill would be retroactively effective Jan. 1, 2022.
Unsheltered people near Sacred Heart and stopping two proposed low-barrier housing and service centers from the city of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä were the reasons the bill’s sponsors, House Minority Leader Doug Skaff, D-Kanawha, and Delegate Larry Pack, R-Kanawha, drafted the bill, they said during the House Judiciary Committee meeting last week.
Skaff is president of HD Media, parent company of the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail.
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ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä City Councilman Emmett Pepper spoke during Monday’s hearing, telling lawmakers the bill does not “fit the issue it purports to address.†He called the bill “a ham-handed attempt to have the state government substitute a really broad rule for reasoned consideration†by the City Council.
“The bill sponsors, I believe, have accomplished what seemed to be their goal: to make clear their opposition to a single proposal in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä,†Pepper said. “This bill, in my view, is not worthy of a spot on this body’s special calendar, and I urge leadership not to take it up.â€
ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin had recommended to the City Council that the city give federal coronavirus relief money to an organization that wanted to create low-barrier housing and a service center for unsheltered people.
The Religious Coalition for Community Renewal has since asked the city to delay consideration of both funding applications after West Side businesses and residents opposed the organization’s plan to put a homeless service center at Bream Memorial Presbyterian. The church also is home to a day care center and preschool.
Goodwin had recommended giving the project $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funding.
Goodwin also recommended giving $3.5 million in ARP funding for the low-barrier housing, which would be in small rectangular units made of fiberglass and aluminum. Coalition officials originally had proposed a parking lot in the East End for the housing project, but then withdrew the location proposal, suggesting instead that, if the funding is granted, a study be done to find a location that “meets the needs of the community, businesses and the unsheltered.â€
Kevin Jones, the coalition’s executive director, has said that asking for the delay in consideration does not mean the projects are off the table altogether. Goodwin said the projects would “still be part of the conversation†for funding in the future.
On Monday, Goodwin said people who spoke for and against the bill during the hearing share the same concerns and have the same goal.
“That says to me, there is room that we need to work, and there’s room that we need to get together and work together,†Goodwin said. “I have great confidence in our local delegation to work with us to make that happen, and to work with all cities, by the way, to make that happen. Because this isn’t just a one-city issue.â€
In its current form, HB 4753 won’t help with any of the concerns expressed during the hearing, she said.
“This is an issue about mental health,†Goodwin said. “Yes, mental health deals with folks who are unhoused, and, yes, mental health also relates to folks who have substance use disorders, but mainly what you heard today was about mental health challenges in our society.â€
In October, Goodwin called on state lawmakers to convene a special session to address challenges with mental health, substance abuse and homelessness facing municipalities. She suggested seven legislative actions she thinks will help people dealing with those issues.
HB 4753 is up for a vote in the House Tuesday morning.
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