Men-only, religious focus could hold up shelter move

For 90 years, the City Gospel Mission has served as a shelter for homeless men. But now fair housing laws could scuttle plans for its move to a new state-of-the-art building in Queensgate where the agency can help more people.

The deeds to the two parcels of land on Dalton Avenue and York Street – where City Gospel Mission is moving – have fair housing restrictions that include requirements that forbid the owner from discrimination based on a host of reasons, including religion or gender.

Those prohibitions, according to correspondence obtained by The Enquirer, now threaten to block the City Gospel Mission's move:

It is a religious organization whose "faith elements are embodied within its program," according to a letter from local officials to HUD.

It's an emergency facility and recovery program for single men.

The City Gospel Mission will help women at the new facility; they just won't stay overnight. It will offer job programs, day programs aimed at getting people into housing and meals for both men and women.

Move is key part of city's Homeless to Homes plan

The expansion of City Gospel Mission's men's facility and men's transition program was a critical part of Cincinnati's overall Homeless to Homes plan, which also has women-specific plans.

Stopping the mission's move could have ramifications for the urban renewal of Over-the-Rhine. The City Gospel Mission and the Drop Inn Center, which is also moving to Queensgate, are being moved to make way for urban development.

The current City Gospel Mission is located on Elm Street, which is on the streetcar line and just north of Music Hall and Washington Park.

3CDC President and CEO Steve Leeper, who is overseeing the City Gospel Mission relocation, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and City Gospel President Roger Howell asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to consent to City Gospel's specific use.

3CDC, which bought the land in 2011 for a little over $1 million, first requested the deed restrictions be dropped altogether, but HUD refused.

"If City Gospel is unable to obtain from HUD at minimum ... consent and waiver,... the project will not be able to proceed, and the Greater Cincinnati community will not have the much needed facility and programs it would provide," the trio of supporters wrote to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a March 19 letter.

HUD officials declined to comment but told Leeper, Cranley and Howell it had never released such restrictions.

They did not return a call to The Enquirer seeking information about what would happen if the project goes ahead without approval.

Ohio Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown sent a letter to HUD March 28 urging HUD to resolve the issue. Several calls with HUD officials, one as recent as last Wednesday, have so far produced no results.

"I'm concerned by any regulations or interpretation of regulations that push Ohioans back onto the streets, instead of giving them the help they need from organizations like City Gospel Mission," Portman said in an email to The Enquirer.

City Gospel president: 'Just a complicated, difficult thing'

Local homeless advocates are hopeful – so hopeful construction has already started at the Dalton Street location, which is just north of Cincinnati's main U.S. Post Office.

"It's very frustrating," Howell said. "It's just a complicated, difficult thing. I think HUD is trying to do their best and get it figured out."

Tony Wilson, who has lived at the City Gospel Mission for about two months, thinks moving the City Gospel is a good idea.

"They need more space," he told The Enquirer."It's getting crowded. They'll be able to help more people with individual needs."

Wilson probably won't be at City Gospel when the move happens, but "somebody else can take my place," he said. "I'm praying for everyone that it works out. It's good to have a place like this, somewhere safe."

The problem dates to 1970s Queensgate development

The requirement was attached to the properties' two titles in 1974 during an urban renewal project in Queensgate that got federal money when the city of Cincinnati partnered with HUD on the project, according to records from the Hamilton County Recorder's Office.

Dubbed Queensgate II, the plan called for stores, restaurants, social service facilities, music studios, a school and high-rise apartment buildings for low- and moderate-income housing, according to Enquirer archives.

The titles say that, as a result of being part of the project, any use of the property could not "discriminate upon the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the sale, lease, or rental or in the use or occupancy of the property or any improvements erected or to be erected."

The anti-discrimination rules were discovered after development started.

"Development of the new facility was well down the road when the title insurance company discovered that private use restrictions encumber (the property)," according to the March 19 letter.

Leaders urge HUD to look at whole plan, not mission

Kevin Finn, president and chief executive of Strategies to End Homelessness, which coordinates the work of the city's homeless providers, said HUD officials need to look beyond just the City Gospel Mission's work and at the entire Homeless to Homes plan, which involves five shelters, including the City Gospel Mission.

As part of the overall plan, 42 beds for women at the current Drop Inn Center in Over-the-Rhine will grow to 60 beds at the new women's shelter on Reading Road.

"The overall goal was to provide targeted services without expanding the existing capacity," Finn said. "We don't want to warehouse people, we want to get them out of homelessness. We are offering a higher level of service."

Not the City Gospel Mission's first problem

The City Gospel Mission's move has already overcome opposition. Several business owners nearby challenged the shelter's move, contending it violated zoning laws because the property is located in a manufacturing general district, which does not permit a special assistance shelter. In that case, the city worked to correct zoning problems.

About the move

The City Gospel Mission's men's shelter, which houses 36 people, has outgrown its space on Elm Street in Over-the-Rhine. Those 36 beds account for 6 percent of the area's total emergency shelter capacity of 577 beds.

The Queensgate property was targeted because it's easy to get to from highways, centrally located and has parking.

The plan includes a new building and renovating another for a total 61,000 square feet that will house 74 men and offer additional beds for people in drug and alcohol treatment. The cost: $14.5 million.

Once the Homeless to Homes plan is implemented – including the Drop Inn Center men's and women's shelters – the City Gospel Mission will account for 12 percent of total emergency shelter capacity.