Revival Center director says she's being harassed; Jackson city officials say no

The Rev. Joyce Hungate says she hasn't felt welcome since opening the Revival Center in Jackson in 2001.

"I've never been so harassed," she said.

The 70-year-old Hungate says the city is attempting to make her leave town by besieging her Revival Center, a church that houses homeless people, with inspections and legal challenges. "How would you like to be hounded for months?" she asked.

The city twice has sued the Revival Center in an attempt to close the homeless shelter or force Hungate to assert more control over who lives there. One suit was settled out of court, the other was dismissed with a number of stipulations. One is that she submit the names of everyone seeking housing at the center to the Jackson police for a criminal background check. Another is that the facility comply with city codes.

Monday, the Jackson Board of Aldermen may decide whether to change the zoning in the neighborhood from the current R-4 for multiple-family dwellings to R-1 single-family housing. The Revival Center would not be affected by the new zoning unless it changed owners.

Mike Jones brought in a sign Friday afternoon to close a clothing sale at the Revival Center in Jackson. Revival Center leader the Rev. Joyce Hungate said she has experienced more harassment in Jackson than in any other location where she has ministered. (Kit Doyle)

'Beyond shaking our finger'

Last month, acting on a complaint by a former resident of the shelter, Jackson inspectors found 24 alleged violations of the city's building code at the center's 914 Old Cape Road address. Janet Sanders, the city's Building and Planning superintendent, said the center remedied all of those within three weeks.

But the city also issued three summonses to Hungate for recurring violations. "We typically try to work with people," Sanders said, "except when we find we're having the same problem over and over. In this case we felt we had to go beyond shaking our finger."

The city has issued only one other summons for a building code violation this year. That was for ignoring a stop-work order for construction on a sign.

One of Hungate's summonses alleges that construction had begun to turn a greenhouse into a garage without a building permit. Hungate claims to have a permit for the work.

The basement apartment that tenants trashed and refused to let Revival Center Church personnel into has been cleaned and fixed since being vacated. (Kit Doyle)

The other two summonses are for violation of the fire code -- an emergency exit was locked -- and violation of the city's plumbing code. The latter alleges that improper venting allowed sewer gases into the building.

Hungate is scheduled to answer the summonses in city court Wednesday. The maximum fine for each is $500, but judges usually impose an amount considerably lower.

The Southeast Missourian obtained information about the alleged violations through a Missouri Sunshine Law request.

Jackson Mayor Barbara Lohr says the city is not trying to harass Hungate out of town. "She agreed she would keep a safe building. I don't think she's being harassed more than anybody who would have that many building violations."

Lohr, who served on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission and board of aldermen before becoming mayor, said 24 violations is an unusually high number. "If there are repeated violations, you finally reach the point where you reach the last straw," the mayor said.

Then-Mayor Paul Sander was one of the real estate agents who helped broker the deal for Hungate to buy the former Deal Nursing Home building in 2001. He said he was not aware that she intended to use the building for a homeless shelter. She told him she wanted to put in something to help improve the community. When the homeless shelter was established later on, the city unsuccessfully challenged whether the Revival House was violating city zoning ordinances.

After the inspection Aug. 9, city officials ordered an apartment in the basement of the Revival Center condemned. They had knocked on the door and demanded to be let in for an hour and 15 minutes before a woman living there responded. Inside they found two girls sitting in the dark on a sofa. They were living among animal feces and filth and were taken away from the mother. Though pets are not allowed at the Revival Center, the family had brought in a cat, a dog and a rabbit.

Locks were changed

Hungate says the tenants had changed the locks and refused to let her in. She said she didn't call the Jackson police. She said they aren't always available when she turns in a name for a criminal background check. Police chief James Humphries said those checks are always done in a timely way but must be done during business hours.

Police have responded to the center 13 times this year. Two of those were medical calls.

The apartment was the worst condition the inspectors found at the center. "The kitchen table was stacked approximately 2 feet high with spoiled moldy food, trash and animal feces," the inspection narrative reads. "The counter was stacked with trash, dirty dishes, and roaches could be seen everywhere." It said raw sewage was on the bathroom floor due to a cracked toilet. Hungate claims that was feces left by one of the animals in the apartment.

She objects to the inspector's allegation that the shelter has a severe cockroach infestation. She says the cockroaches were confined to the apartment, which she admits was "trashed" by the people who were living there. "I don't run a dirty establishment," she said.

Dean Holmburg, who lives at the shelter and helps Hungate run one wing, said he has never seen what the city alleges. "Once in a while I see a bug," he said.

The Revival Center has been a source of complaints from a group of neighbors worried about some of the people who stay there. They want it out of their neighborhood, but the city has limited control over the Revival Center because it's also a church.

The city could be preparing to challenge the Revival Center's status as a church. During the Aug. 9 visit, inspectors asked residents whether they pay to live at the center. All but three of those questioned said they pay $75 a week.

The question was not an idle one. "It may be relevant to the fact that it is a business as opposed to a charitable operation," city attorney Tom Ludwig said.

Said Lohr, "I don't know of other churches that rent out rooms and apartments."

Hungate said the payment is an "administrative donation" everyone who stays is asked to make. "Most don't. Most come for a few days and leave."

The money covers room and board. Hungate said she requires everyone who stays at the Revival Center to get a job. She said she accepts no salary for her work there.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137