Hope gets a fresh chance

Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: April 22, 2008

That was a generous compromise the Charlottesville Board of Zoning Appeals extended toward Hope House.
The board affirmed that the homeless shelter is operating illegally in a residential neighborhood.
It would have been within its rights to allow city staff to shut the organization down, as staff had proposed.
Instead, the board ordered a delay of action while Hope House seeks a special exemption from City Council.
Hope House had been operated by COMPASS, a local organization that came together a couple of years ago to address the problem of homelessness in Charlottesville. The group disintegrated late last year.
Then Pastor Harold Bare of Covenant Church of God stepped in to take over the project with his son, Josh. It didn’t take long for them to exhaust their finances and, almost, their strength.
The younger Bare has spent 70-80 hours a week running the shelter.
The family told The Daily Progress they had spent thousands of dollars of their own money on Hope House (“Money woes could close Hope shelter,” March 27) and needed around $20,000 a month from other sources in order to continue.
They planned to ask City Council for assistance. In the early days of COMPASS, Council had given money to the organization.
Instead of getting a donation, the Bares got word that their homeless shelter was illegal and could be shut down.
The Bares sought an appeal with the zoning board.
The board ruled that the property use was illegal but at the same time prevented any legal action against Hope House until Council decides whether to grant a zoning exemption.
Granting exemptions is risky; it could unleash demand for similar special treatment from any number of interests.
Still, it is in the city’s best interests to support the homeless center. Giving indigent people a place to stay is important in and of itself, as a humanitarian gesture. Their health and safety are at risk on the streets; on the streets, they have no one to help them turn their lives around.
But it is also important for Charlottesville’s reputation and its livability. If homeless people are dumped back on the streets — Hope House serves about 40 men and women a night — then the city will suffer the fallout, in all the many sad ways that people with no place to sleep and no food to eat can affect a city.
“If we are a ‘world-class’ city, we need to help people get their lives back together,” said Pastor Bare, alluding to both aspects of the need.
Obtaining an exemption is only half of the problem. Finding more money is the other half.
But for its part, the city is willing to give Hope a chance.
That’s commendable.