Public meeting on transitional housing program to be held Tuesday

A public meeting to discuss the need and the means for creating a low-cost transitional housing program for homeless families will be held Tuesday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Hosted by Love In the Name of Christ, or Love INC, the meeting is intended to be a discussion of fundraising commitments, a discussion of how to obtain grant and tax-credit support and where to build a small group of modest homes.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Hirsch Community Room. A coordinating committee that includes Jeff Fanger, president of the Love Inc. board, Howard Hemmann of Penzel Construction Co., Patrick Drury of Denali Construction, Tom Gammon of Drury Co. and Eva Hillis, executive director of Love INC, has been formed as a nucleus to start the project.

Initially, the plan to be presented will be a version of the Magnolia Place plan first floated in 2007 by Project Hope. That project called for nine 1,200-square-foot homes designed to keep utility costs low. The site chosen, in the 500 block of North Main and North Spanish streets, remains the same.

"We are just at the beginning phases of beginning everything," said Eva Hillis, executive director of Love INC.

Reviving the project is a direct city response to the Rev. Larry Rice's proposal to convert the federal building at 339 Broadway into a homeless shelter. That proposal was rejected, but a pending federal lawsuit filed by Rice has blocked the building's sale to Cape Girardeau County.

When Mayor Jay Knudtson was holding regular strategy meetings to fight Rice, discussion also turned to how to combat any local homelessness problem, Hillis said. Other agencies were willing to take on the task, but for various reasons could not.

"We have a lot of leeway making our ministry," Hillis said. "We will be responsible for securing whatever funding is needed through whatever funding sources are available."

While Love INC has a national organization, each local ministry is an independent affiliate, she said.

Nothing is certain about the plan, Hillis said. If there is opposition to the North Main Street location, she said the planners will be open to suggestions for a different site.

"There has been quite a bit of work going into that site," she said. "It is a good location. It is in a neighborhood that would open it up for some additional funding, possibly. But we are not locked into that."

The city will back the plan as it takes shape, Knudtson said. Homelessness in Cape Girardeau is a local problem that needs a local solution, he said.

"I want to demonstrate that we came out opposed to Rev. Rice's proposal for all the right reasons," Knudtson said. "We are committed."

That attitude, as well as the awareness raised by Rice, is welcome, Hillis said. "We took it to our board and we just feel this is the right opportunity. The climate is good and the land is available."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

535 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO