Group seeking Cape federal building has gone through same process in Springfield, St. Louis

The application for the federal building in Cape Girardeau isn't the Rev. Larry Rice and the New Life Evangelistic Center's first run through the federal bureaucracy.

New Life made two previous attempts to obtain surplus federal buildings in Missouri. One attempt, to obtain a 400,000-square-foot building on Market Street in St. Louis, was rejected by the Department of Health and Human Services. The other application, for a former Social Security Administration office in Springfield, was granted.

As in Cape Girardeau, those applications generated strong opposition. As Cape Girardeau is doing, both cities led opposition from city hall. With Rice threatening court action if his application for the federal building at 339 Broadway is denied, the lesson from St. Louis is that he makes good on those threats.

From Rice's point of view, the application for Cape Girardeau's surplus federal building is more similar to Springfield than St. Louis. The St. Louis building was vast and would have been, by the city government's reckoning, the largest homeless shelter in the nation with room for up to 1,000 people. The Springfield building is much smaller, closer to 17,000 square feet, and the application proposed services that were not otherwise available.

Rice believes he could have prevailed in court -- the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., against the Department of Health and Human Services was dropped on a motion from New Life's attorney -- but saw new efforts in St. Louis that addressed the city's needs. He cited a $30 million commitment to provide extensive help for the city's homeless women and children.

"We made a decision to back off and not pursue it," Rice said.

Rice wants to put a transitional housing program in the Cape Girardeau building. His application says he plans to help about 125 people a year -- 40 to 50 at any one time -- set up an emergency shelter and open a free store for the needy. The programs would emphasize help for homeless veterans and families. A decision on the application could come by the end of the month.

Springfield sought to fight while it denied a need existed, Rice said. Like the Cape Girardeau application, Rice proposed to emphasize services to homeless veterans through the building at 806 N. Jefferson Ave. in Springfield. Despite opposition from the city, Greene County and the Springfield School District, Rice prevailed.

"The law is very explicit," he said. "And if we don't do it, we have to accept business as usual."

But opposition to Rice, leaders and activist residents of each city said, was based on several factors that ranged from an inappropriate location -- an argument being made in Cape Girardeau -- to questions about his ministry's ability to follow rules, get along with other agencies and create effective programs.

Springfield sent a delegation to Washington to meet with members of Congress and Health and Human Services officials, said Mary Lilly-Smith, city economic development director.

New Life has a free store in Springfield that is not supposed to be a homeless shelter. It was kept open 24 hours a day, Lilly-Smith said, and people were allowed to sleep there. In December, a former manager was convicted of sodomizing a woman who was staying there. And, she added, New Life owns a home found to be in violation of city codes for having too many people staying there.

"I think the reviewers at the federal level took the easy way out," Lilly-Smith said. "They thought, 'We don't have to make a tough decision. Let's give it to the homeless.' I don't think they paid any attention at all to the local community."

The New Life program in the former Social Security building in Springfield is next to Springfield Central High School. Mary Byrne, who is among a group of people keeping pressure on Health and Human Services to monitor the programs, said she worried that the New Life programs will put students in danger. The building is underused now, she said.

"There is no plan for security. The kinds of services he wants to provide is to persons who have extreme mental health needs," Byrne said. "If that program gets in place, it concentrates those persons in one location, and our problem is it is right next to a school."

'Fought us tooth and nail'

Rice acknowledged his program in Springfield is not meeting the goals set, but he cites opposition from the city as it nitpicks over building code issues. The program will work, he said.

Byrne "is not aware of all we are doing," he said. "She fought us tooth and nail. We bought the other house while they were going through the necessary procedures, and they have aroused the fear level of the community."

St. Louis officials said their opposition was based on Rice's track record in the city and concerns about having 1,000 homeless people congregating in an area undergoing extensive redevelopment. At the time of his application, a developer was planning a major investment in the historic Kiel Opera House next to the Abrams building. The developer wanted the Abrams building for a parking structure.

The city eventually bought the building from the federal government to house city offices. "What you have to do to acquire the building is establish in fact that there is a need for a facility of that size and proportion based on a census," said Bill Siedhoff, director of human services for St. Louis. "We didn't believe there was anything close to the need for a 1,000-bed emergency shelter."

Rice's main operation in St. Louis is a 125-bed shelter and headquarters at 1411 Locust St. The New Life Evangelistic Center website includes a solicitation for donations to a $1 million campaign to update the building.

Rice refuses to take part in homeless services networking in St. Louis, Siedhoff said. The city is aiming its resources at long-term housing and has 800 residences dedicated to that effort, he said.

Rice operates independently and attacks those who don't take his view, said Jeff Rainford, chief of staff to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

"It is the same thing, I imagine, in Cape," he said. "Rice says everybody else is ignoring the problem. But the truth is here that everybody is providing services more effective than his and he won't acknowledge it."

Rice said he was willing to show anyone his services, shelters and to explain his efforts. He said St. Louis is taking a more active approach to dealing with its homeless problems because of his agitation and doesn't apologize for seeking the Abrams building, the Springfield Social Security building or the Cape Girardeau federal building.

If Cape Girardeau wants to find a suitable building in good shape close to public transportation, Rice said, he is willing to change where he puts his programs. But it must be on the same terms as the federal building -- he must be given the keys at no cost.

"But right now they want to stick their head in the sand and say there is not a problem," Rice said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

<form method="post" action="http://www.semissourian.com/scripts/poll/vote.php">Do you approve of the proposal to use the old federal building in Cape Girardeau as a homeless shelter?&nbsp;Yes, more resources are required to help those in need in the region &nbsp;No, the facility is a good idea but should be somewhere else in the city &nbsp;No, creating a facility in the area is not a good idea or is not needed &nbsp;Other opinion

Pertinent addresses:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

1520 Market St., St. Louis, MO

806 N. Jefferson Ave., Springfield, MO

1411 Locust St., St. Louis, MO