With temperatures plunging into the 20s, doors at a warming center at the Warnerville Methodist Church remain locked.
Wednesday, Town of Richmondville Code Enforcement Officer Jay Belifore shut down the warming center on the grounds that it’s not a permitted use in a hamlet.
But church leaders, Catholic Charities--which is running the overnight-only space for no more than 10 people and so, not a shelter, they said--and even the Board of Supervisors argue that it’s absolutely allowed as part of the WUMC’s mission and protected under the First Amendment.
“Some people in the neighborhood aren’t happy that this is happening,” said Fran Sossei of the WUMC. “They told us they were going to shut us down.
“But this is a very well run, supervised program. These are people…many of them have jobs. They just don’t have a place to stay.”
Under a state mandate called Code Blue, municipalities are required to offer overnight shelter to the homeless when temperatures fall below 32 degrees.
Christy Houck, executive director for Catholic Charities of Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie Counties, said they worked for more than a year to find a site here; they’re running it under a contract with Social Services and renting the space from the UMC.
Right now, attorneys are reviewing statues that exempt shelters and similar facilities from local zoning.
“The church is saying this is it’s mission,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Donna Becker.
It is, said Ms. Sossei.
“This is the ministry of our church. You can’t tell us what we can and can’t do. We’re trying to help the least of us. Would these people have turned Jesus away? God will make it open back up.”
County Attorney Mike West told supervisors Friday that he also believes WUMC is in the right—pointing out that anytime there’s a disaster here, temporary shelters are opened.
“This is the first time I’ve known of resistance at this level,” he said. “This is the humane thing to do. To throw people out into the storm and threaten to call the Sheriff”—allegations made against Mr. Belifore—there’s a better way to handle things.”
Richmondville Supervisor Jeff Haslun said he believes it’s a zoning issue—and so, he said, does Mr. Belifore.
Both of them, he said, are concerned about safety.
“It’s a dark road [Route 7] with no streetlights,” Mr. Haslun said. “I’m afraid someone is going to get hit. We just want to make sure no one gets hurt.”
“So it’s OK that people are lying out in the street and possibly dying?” asked Seward Supervisor Earlin Rosa.
Mr. Rosa also pointed out the financial costs of no warming center: the county expects to spend $1 million this year to put the homeless up in hotels.
Supervisors are leaving it to the attorneys to sort things out—a solution Mr. West isn’t really buying.
“Someone’s going to have to have the nerve to force an opinion,” he said. “I don’t know where that loggerhead comes in.”
Ms. Houck also said she’s afraid there’s no quick fix.
“I would keep it open if I could,” she said. “If I had the OK from the attorneys or Codes, it would already be reopened. We were so excited to have a place…These people are just trying to get through their day. We’re not giving up.”