CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Some residents of the Elizabeth community are raising concerns about a proposed affordable housing project that would bring over 100 homeless adults and families into the neighborhood, including many recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.
The 80-apartment facility, to be created within a former nursing home, would count as the latest of three nonprofit projects in Elizabeth catering to the homeless - prompting some residents to worry their neighborhood is becoming "a haven for the homeless."
A public meeting held last week on the proposed project attracted more than 100 residents and parents of students at nearby Elizabeth Traditional Elementary School, a CMS magnet school.
Opinions in the crowd seemed evenly split between supporters and opponents. Chief among parents' concerns is a perceived safety threat to students, who use nearby Independence Park as their playground. The park also adjoins the proposed apartment community, which sits at Fifth Street and Hawthorne Lane.
Project organizers told the crowd that national criminal background checks will keep out tenants with a history of violent offenses, including rape or other sex crimes. There will also be random drug screenings.
Some parents were not convinced, suggesting that the project either be moved elsewhere or that the tenants be forbidden to enter the park during school hours.
"It just takes one exception and we've got a disaster," said one parent at the public meeting on Tuesday.
Added parent Nicole Gardner: "I think there are some people clearly in favor of this project, some who are clearly opposed and then there's a big swath in the middle that favors supportive housing, but really wanted to hear that there are going to be reasonable and sensible measures taken to ensure the safety of our community. ... I don't think we have heard that."
The project is being proposed by Supportive Housing Communities, a nonprofit formerly known as St. Peter's Homes, which has successfully run a similar apartment community called McCreesh Place on North Davidson Street since 2003. That site has about 90 residents, 40 percent of whom have jobs. The remainder spend their days working with staff to stabilize their lives and overcome health issues that often result in extended periods of homelessness, officials said.
Pam Jefsen, executive director of Supportive Housing Communities, told the public meeting that neighbors of the North Davidson apartments have not once called police to the property, which has on-site security staff at night.
If anything, she said, the residents have proven to be good neighbors, working as part of the neighborhood watch program, volunteering for community projects and serving as counselors for other nonprofits.
"Our goal is to be an asset to the community," she said.
However, some at the public meeting questioned how an affordable-housing project could be considered a neighborhood asset.
Mecklenburg County commissioner Jennifer Roberts, who lives near the proposed project, attempted to answer that question at the meeting.
"I have no fear of my children walking up and down in front of this facility," Roberts told the crowd. "There are people who have fallen through no fault of their own. Why not have our kids see us helping them? It reminds us of why we should be thankful."
The site, vacant since October, was chosen because the existing 50,000-square-foot building matches the charity's needs, and already has the proper zoning, officials said.
The cost of renovation is estimated at between $6 million and $7 million. That money has not yet been secured, but if all goes as planned, Jefsen said work could begin as soon as this spring, with the first tenants moving in later this year.
Tenants will be limited to the homeless and those in danger of being homeless, many of them with disabilities including addictions. Unlike McCreesh Place's community on North Davidson, the Hawthorne Lane site would include single women and families headed by a single parent.
The facility will have staff or a security team present at all times, Jefsen said.
If completed as planned, it will be one of three new apartment communities the McCreesh Place board has proposed opening in coming years. Sites for the other two have not been chosen.
It will also be the latest in a series of efforts in the community to get the most fragile among Charlotte's estimated 6,000 homeless into housing - and to spread that housing throughout the community.
Among the recent projects announced is Moore Place, an 85-apartment complex that opened last month in north Charlotte's Druid Hills community, as well as shorter-term housing programs operated by Charlotte Family Housing (six homeless families at a time) and the Center of Hope shelter for women and children (50 homeless women). The latter two are both are in the Elizabeth community.
