Earls, 73, who has been in charge of the Bethany Center since 1998, would like to see the homeless housed in two rooms on the third floor of the center, a former school, at 339 South Street.
The Piqua Planning Commission, in a 3-to-1 vote on March 9, recommended denying rezoning the property from single-family to multi-family zoning, the first step needed to allow the property to be used to temporarily house the homeless. The matter will go before the Piqua City Commission April 6. Even if the zoning is approved, a special-use request would have to be granted by the city before the center could be used for a shelter.
The planning commission denied the request because they aren’t convinced that lot should be multi-family zoning. There might be other sites more suitable for a shelter, Piqua Police Chief Bruce Jamison said.
The issue goes beyond the city, Piqua City Manager Fred Enderle said.
If a shelter is built without a need “you attract people from outside the area into a shelter,” he said. “We’re right next to Troy,” which does have shelters.
Thirty-five percent of the homeless that the Miami County Family Abuse Center in Troy deals with come from Piqua, Jamison said.
The city wants a comprehensive approach to the problem and the question, “Do we need a shelter or are there other gaps (to help the homeless) that would be more effective if we filled them?” Jamison said.
If approved, the shelter will fall under the umbrella of Bethany and would be run by another group as the Bethany House of Providence. It would have two rooms with 10 beds for men, and 10 for women to start, she said.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose your home. People think homeless people are third class citizens. They are not. They are often hard working people that have lost everything,” said Cathy Large, chairman of the board of trustees of Bethany Center.
The center withdrew a similar request for shelter use in 2005 after opposition from neighboring residents.
The commission at the time said the center didn’t have enough money. They have money now, but “they say we’re not ready. They’re not ready, is what it is,” Earls said. “The city just does not want this. It just does not want to admit there are homeless.”
Jamison, who has been working with Earls in looking at Piqua’s homeless situation, sees it differently.
“We do have a homelessness issue,” he said, though unlike most urban homelessness, “ours is different. It’s not necessarily people walking down the street pushing carts.”
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