To the satisfaction of several Norman residents, the city planning commission did not recommend rezoning for Norman’s housing shelter, A Friend's House, that could relocate the shelter from 109 W. Gray St. to 718 N. Porter Ave. Thursday.
The planning commission investigates any subject matter relating to developing and improving the city, making recommendations to the city council. The commission’s recommendation will still be passed to council for further discussion even though it was not approved.
A majority of the night was spent with residents making their case on whether the shelter should be relocated or not. This could have been the fourth location for unhoused individuals in Norman, had it been approved.
The vote was rejected 7 to 1 with Cameron Brewer being the only one to vote in favor of the rezoning.
“There will never be a perfect solution here, but this is leading in a direction that will shelter more individuals,” Brewer said. “As our housing crisis continues to get worse and worse, being able to do something is better than nothing.”
Before the vote was taken, Assistant City Attorney Anthony Purinton gave a summary on the property outlining council’s original budget of $500,000, but is now estimated to be between $1.5 million to $2.1 million.
Several members took issue with the increased cost of the project. The planning commission questioned Purinton on how long the city intended the shelter to operate. Purinton reiterated that the building would be temporary, though it is not clear when the opportunity to establish a permanent shelter will arise.
“It has been very difficult to find a perfect location,” Purinton said. “We find buildings as it has shown that have been already owned or operated by the city, then we build up usable space so we can offer it as a service.”
When the issue was opened to members of the public, several residents voiced their concerns with relocating the shelter.
Lauri Swan, a presently unhoused person, told her story of losing her home and finding help from A Friend's House, where employees assisted her in getting treatment for her anxiety, and pushed back on the assumption that a majority of the shelter's residents were dangerous or struggling with addiction.
“Somebody with severe drug or alcohol problems would not be able to hack the rules there,” Swan said. “They would either be asked to leave because they violated them or they would leave voluntarily because those rules do not support what some people think are the homeless lifestyle.”
The proposed building is located right next to Tarahumara’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina. According to restaurant co-owner Efrain Romero, the relocation would negatively affect the restaurant's business and reputation.
Romero made a plea to the Norman planning commission to cancel its plans of accepting the rezoning. Romero collected over 200 signatures from customers who were against the relocation plans claiming they are already experiencing high traffic of unhoused individuals disrupting business. Romero claims moving the housing shelter right next door will only exacerbate the issue.
“We’ve had so many problems with people vandalizing customers' cars, asking them for money,” Romero said. “And as bad as it is, I think it’s going to get worse, it isn't going to get any better."
Planning commissioner Doug McClure wanted to know the economic impact on surrounding businesses. Purinton said that any answer to his question would be speculative.
The intention to approve the rezoning of 718 N. Porter Ave. was to eventually relocate A Friend's House to this location to provide unhoused individuals with larger living quarters and keep more people off the street.
According to the housing shelter’s operators, Food and Shelter, A Friend's House is currently operating at full capacity with only 40 beds, which is resulting in 10 people having to be turned away every night due to lack of space. According to Purinton, the shelter on Porter is estimated to operate at a capacity between 60 to 100.
Norman residents have consistently voiced their disapproval of temporary shelters in the city and have taken extreme issue with the idea of establishing a permanent shelter, concerned about crime rates and what it means for family activities in the area.
In a city council meeting on July 25, Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman attributed the rising crime rates to population growth.
“We live in an area that is rapidly growing,” Holman said. “200,000 people in this metro area, over 20,000 people to Norman alone in the last 10 years is going to result in issues of growth problems, infrastructure, stress, crime.”
This story was edited by Peggy Dodd. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
