New Life again blocked in bid for Cape Girardeau federal building

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been changed to correct the name of a law firm and a court where the verdict could be appealed.

The New Life Evangelistic Center and the Department of Health and Human Services are back in court over the Cape Girardeau federal building, a battle that will likely leave the property in limbo until sometime next year, New Life's attorney said Monday.

New Life's application to use the now nearly empty building at 339 Broadway as a homeless shelter was denied for the second time May 14, more than six months after Washington, D.C., District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the original rejection was flawed.

Larry Rice at New Life Evangelistic Center on May 19, 2009, in St. Louis. (Kit Doyle)

During a visit to the New Life homeless outreach center at 707 Broadway, founder and director the Rev. Larry Rice said his attorneys have challenged the latest ruling, this time including a demand to update the application with information gleaned from nine months of operations at the outreach center.

"It is now in long-term litigation," Rice said.

Attorney Andrew C. Adair of Feldesman, Tucker, Leifer, Fidel LLP, said the earliest that Kollar-Kotelly could rule would be in late September. If the ruling goes in New Life's favor, the center is asking for 90 days to submit a revised application for the 40,000-square-foot building. If New Life loses, the next step would be an appeal to the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Either way, Adair said, no final disposition of the building is likely until well into 2011.

Kollar-Kotelly does not have the power to award New Life the building, Adair said. Instead, the judge reviews the decision made by the Department of Health and Human Services and determines whether it complies with the law governing the granting of federal property to help the homeless. If it does not, she can order another review but that is the extent of her power, he said.

"Our position is that they violated the law again, and we want her to tell the agency to give us the opportunity to update the application," he said.

New Life asked for that in December, Rice said. With state cuts to psychiatric programs, rising unemployment and more people losing unemployment benefits, the homeless problem is growing, he said. "Our application has so much more we want to add," he said.

New Life applied for the federal building in May 2009. In the application, Rice said he wanted to provide 1,100 nights of emergency shelter per year -- about three people per day -- and long-term transitional housing beds for up to six months for 125 people per year. He said the program would draw from a 22-county area stretching from Poplar Bluff to Farmington and including the Bootheel counties.

The application generated a wave of community opposition led by then-Mayor Jay Knudtson.

Since the initial rejection last year, Knudtson has signed up to help a locally directed homeless facility, Shelter of Hope, raise money for a small emergency shelter on South Sprigg Street. That shelter is not yet open, but, like Rice, it has a thrift store at 733 Broadway and is helping find temporary shelter for the homeless.

Deborah Young, recently added to the New Life board of directors, said she has helped more than 500 people, many with food or clothing, at the outreach center. The center has a handful of beds for homeless women but lacks space for families.

Mike Robinson, a spokesman for Health and Human Services, said Monday the agency had no comment on New Life's application or the new lawsuit.

But in a letter rejecting Rice's application for the second time, Paul S. Bartley, director of the Program Support Center, cited a lack of firm relationships with other service providers, an overly ambitious program and inadequate finances as reasons for rejecting New Life's application again.

"Given the unreasonably large catchment area, the miscalculation of the number of homeless people in the catchment area, and the unutilized square footage in the floor plans, it is clear that NLEC has greatly overestimated the size of the homeless population and the need for the proposed program," Bartley wrote.

New Life said in the application that it would rely on increasing donations, the sale of some assets and other revenue to renovate and operate the shelter. But Bartley said the numbers don't support the claims, either by demonstrating that New Life is financially sound now or that it has access to future funds.

The 10-page rejection letter included summaries of letters from two Cape Girardeau service agencies, Mending Hearts Recovery and the Safe House for Women, calling into question whether they would work with New Life on referrals for substance abuse or domestic violence.

But by including those statements, Adair said, Health and Human Services did what it would not allow New Life to do, update the record to support its case.

"The whole process is sort of preordained," he said. "They didn't say, 'Let's give this thing a fair reading.' Instead, they hunkered down to make this denial as bulletproof as possible. We would like the opportunity to beef up our application."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

707 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO