A spokesman for residents in the Station North area say they?re not opposed to a shelter for the homeless ? just its size and scale.
Abu Moulta Ali, vice president of the New Greenmount West Community Association, said the shelter will house 300 or more homeless people, including families and single people. The shelter, on the 1600 block of Guilford Avenue, is slated to operate Friday through March 31 and will be open 24 hours a day.
Moulta Ali says that?s unacceptable.
“The city should have had a better intake plan,” Moulta Ali said. “When Mayor [Sheila] Dixon spoke to us, she said no one would notice the extra 300 people being housed in the community” of 1,600.
Moulta Ali said the new influx of people would be noticed, and because the building ? a former school ? can easily house 1,000 people, the city could increase the number of clients.
“We said it?s getting out of control because nowhere in Baltimore has there been a homeless shelter with 300 people,” Moulta Ali said. “This would be the largest shelter in Baltimore.”
The community has expressed additional anger over the city?s provision of $500,000 for renovations.
But City Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein said the city would recoup the $500,000 when the building is sold.
“It?s a pretty traditional shelter, and [clients] will be screened for weapons,” Sharfstein said. “We?re doing it so people won?t freeze on the streets this winter.”
Mayoral spokesman Anthony McCarthy said the shelter will only accommodate 150 to 300 people. He said that after winter passes, a permanent homeless facility will be designated as a code blue shelter.
City officials met several times with the community to explain the city?s expectations for the site, he said.
“We are not disputing the validity of their analysis,” McCarthy said of money spent on temporary shelters.
“But the reality is that Dixon has only been mayor for 10 months, and we will not allow people to die because of the cold weather.”
