Angry Baltimore City residents don?t want a homeless shelter in their neighborhood, prompting a city councilman to threaten to stall the budget process unless the city finds an alternative location, said City Councilman Jack Young.
“The budget may be delayed,” said Young, D-District 12.
The emergency shelter for hundreds of the city?s homeless is slated to move from its temporary location on the 1600 block of Guilford Avenue to a new downtown site Tuesday across the street from the city?s main post office on Fayette Street in Young?s district.
At a Sunday community meeting attended by more than 100 residents, Mayor Sheila Dixon attempted to allay concerns of neighboring residentsthat the shelter will increase crime.
“This is temporary solution,” she said.
“This will be the location for the next 60 to 90 days only.”
Dixon argued putting a shelter downtown, where the city?s homeless population tends to congregate, would benefit the neighborhood.
But “we will not lose sight of finding a location for a permanent shelter by 2009,” she said.
Jeff Springer, president of nonprofit Healthcare for the Homeless, said neighbors of the shelter?s previous location reported few if any problems.
“They found that things got better, because there was extra attention paid to the area,” he said.
Dr. Aisha Peterson, president of the community association at Albamore Square II, a new condominium development across the street from the shelter?s proposed location, said she still had concerns.
“We learned about the move on … March 25, and they plan to open it on April 1, with no community involvement,” she said.
“It could overwhelm our community. It?s not going to help us.”
