Shelter director suggests new spot for the homeless

Chapel Hill officials looking for ideas

CHAPEL HILL -- It's been a year and a half since an Orange County commissioner suggested moving the men's homeless shelter to Homestead Road, and still no decision has been made.

Hoping to jump-start the process, the head of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, which runs the shelter in downtown Chapel Hill, is making more suggestions to local government leaders.

Most recently, Executive Director Chris Moran proposed moving the shelter into the Mellott building, a 44,000-square-foot concrete facility that sits mostly empty at Eubanks and Millhouse roads.

Moran stressed that he has not talked to the property owner or researched the building's availability.

"We [make] suggestions when we think they're viable, and it's up to officials to check it out," Moran said.

The latest suggestion comes after some Chapel Hill officials recently mentioned moving the shelter to land near the new Town Operations Center on Millhouse Road.

Moran said that site is too far from town.

"[The shelter] has to be close to services, jobs and transportation," he said.

The IFC has been exploring places to move and expand its homeless shelter for years. Downtown restaurant and business owners have complained that the shelter contributes to panhandling, though Moran says many of those who solicit don't stay there.

Officials looked at locations on Legion Road and Merritt Mill Road, but neighbors opposed both.

In March 2006, then-Orange County Commissioner Stephen Halkiotis suggested the Southern Human Services Center complex off Homestead Road.

Now, county commissioners say they want to put a new Chapel Hill courthouse at the complex -- on land the county owns. The Town Council would prefer to see the shelter there, and Moran said he also prefers that site because the Homestead Road site would be closer to the services the men need.

The town wants to re-occupy the old town hall building at Rosemary and Columbia streets, where the shelter is now.

Mayor Kevin Foy said the town has been working with the IFC to find the right location, but it has been hard. Members of the town's new senior center on Homestead Road have opposed putting the homeless shelter there.

"This is not an easy topic to talk about," Foy said. "People get upset and worried."

The Town Council instructed Town Manager Roger Stancil to look at sites and propose them to the IFC.

"From my point of view, the IFC is best suited to make the decision," Foy said.

The mayor said he is trying to get the community to focus on the bigger picture.

"There are people in this community for whatever reason who don't have shelter," he said. "We need to accept responsibility for that and give them shelter. It's part of our obligation as a civilized community."

(Staff writer Jesse James DeConto contributed to this story.)