The suit comes a week after the city sent Rice a “cease and desist” notice , saying he was operating his New Life Evangelistic Center, at 14th and Locust streets, without a permit.

“NLEC purposefully attempts to attract the greatest possible number of high acuity homeless men to the facility and generate the maximization of the nuisance caused in the community as a core business practice,” reads the suit filed this week in St. Louis Circuit Court by attorney Elkin L. Kistner.

Rice’s center was issued a permit for 32 beds in 1976, but it expired last year, and Rice argued unsuccessfully in court that he did not need to get signatures of approval from nearby residents before applying for a new permit. City leaders said Rice had been given adequate time to apply for a new permit and that is why the notice had been sent. Rice has 30 days to appeal, and he told the Post-Dispatch he would. He regularly shelters more than 200 people per night.