Permits Are More Important than People

October 27, 2002

by John F. Schmidt

In Palm Beach County, Florida a small church ministry that feeds and shelters the homeless has been heavily fined for not having a permit to operate a homeless shelter.

Westgate Tabernacle opened its doors to homeless people in late 1998.  Shortly afterward, County building code enforcement officers cited them for operating a homeless shelter without a permit.  The county does not operate restriction-free homeless shelters itself, and the Westgate community, where the church resides, has historically been a congregating spot for vagrants. This church has tried to do something about the problem.

The Rev. Avis Hill thought he had all the permit he needed when he read Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:43-45: “I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me.  Whatever you did not do to the least of these, you did not do it to me.”   The officials cited another biblical source: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Romans 13:1-2

Behind the seeming clash of biblical concepts, county ordinances, and the Constitutional free exercise of religion there may lurk the simple desire of a community to exclude undesirable people, no matter what the need, and the complicity of county officials who may have lost sight of a bigger picture.

Westgate business leaders, who reported the church’s non-compliance to the county, have struggled for years to clean up the community.  Formerly, Westgate was a breeding ground for racial tensions, crack dealing, and prostitution. Much of that is gone today, but community leaders are afraid that the church’s activities will again make their area a magnet for the homeless.

According to the pastor, he is just doing something that is needed in this otherwise affluent county in South Florida. “I woke up one morning and saw people sleeping everywhere – the lawn, my back porch, the picnic table. They needed something to eat, maybe a shower, and somewhere to go.” Hill said. “How in good conscience could I say no? Where else could they stay?”  “If we don’t have the right to minister to the homeless, we don’t have the right to minister to anyone,” he said.

In October 2001, Hill planned to ask the County Commissioners to reduce the two-year-old fine in return for compliance, but officials pulled a surprise inspection of the church and wrote a number of new citations for un-permitted construction work. The pastor took this as evidence that the county was more in a mood to punish the church than to reach an amicable agreement.

The fines mounted to over $28,429 by February 2002, and the county is still not showing any signs of backing down, despite the church’s willingness to apply for a permit. Recently, the church decided to sue the county, relying on a 2000 federal law prohibiting the government from placing a “substantial burden” on religious expression. Former state Rep. Barry Silver is representing the church in their suit.

Puzzling to many observers is the fact that while the county is unmoved in its zeal to eradicate this one small church ministry to the homeless, it has little itself to offer in the way of help for the estimated 3000 to 6000 homeless.   Only 410 emergency beds exist and it is estimated that 1,527 more are needed. “If the county won’t do it, leave the churches alone.” Hill said.

The advocacy group called the National Coalition for the Homeless ranked Palm Beach County among the “meanest” in the nation in treating the homeless. That may be true of those running county government, but other social agencies including the Veteran’s administration, and a Catholic church have donated supplies and equipment to the church. Sheriff’s deputies and police from as far away as Boca Raton and Jupiter have dropped people off needing help. But Westgate’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), at the heart of the opposition to the church’s ministry, has staunchly resisted the church’s homeless mission.

To accommodate the county codes to operate a homeless shelter would cost the poor congregation at least $15,000 in renovations to their church facility. Besides, CRA’s animosity toward the church’s homeless work bodes ill for any attempt to actually create an approved homeless shelter. Westgate is a community strenuously trying to distance itself from such a clientele.

Westgate Tabernacle is providing services that the county desperately needs, at a price that is very competitive. But cost does not seem to be the issue. Prior to the church, the Salvation Army was virtually run out of town for serving the same need. They relocated, and now offer a number of more permanent beds, but they no longer provide emergency housing services for the overnight needs of the homeless as the church has done.

This is an all-too-familiar scene: affluence marginalizing the poor and needy. Even the scriptures rebuke church leaders who treat the poor rudely while welcoming the rich (James 2:1-4). Such an attitude is called ‘respect of persons.’ Hopefully that is not the view of the Westgate community leaders.

The church must continue to do what the Lord calls them to do, but they must also try to live peaceably with the city. Housing ordinances are legitimate, but if they are used to persecute a church or its ministries, then legal action is justified.

Beyond simply helping people with immediate needs, the church also has an obligation to operate according to Biblical principles in ministering charity. Both giver and receiver are obliged to behave according to certain principles. The homeless are required to act as good neighbors to the people in the community. Aid should be given with an obligation for work to be performed in return, when it is feasible. A homeless mission can rightfully be regarded as a nuisance if it blights the community it purports to serve, or if it becomes a breeding ground for more vagrancy.

Westgate and Palm Beach County has an opportunity to show its compassionate side. Property values, and the efforts of community leaders over the years to clean up the area are valid reasons to be concerned. But in their quest to build a better place to live, it is possible they might produce the very opposite result: a community where people won’t lift a finger to help others in need?   The only thing worse than a closed and gated community is a closed and gated heart.

There are many things we won’t accept because we know they are wrong: we don’t dump granny when she becomes a burden; we don’t drop a baby girl in the trash can when her mom gives birth at a high school prom; we don’t drown our kids so we can have a new boyfriend, we don’t deny medical care to people because they don’t have any money, and we don’t run the poor and the homeless out of town because we don’t want them around. They are people too.

The fight goes on over zoning minutia and draconian fines while the homeless wander the streets without shelter. No serious county effort is underway to address their need. But one brave church is fighting the good fight. To some, though, it seems that permits are more important than people.

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John F. Schmidt has written numerous articles over the last decade. Politically, he is an Alan Keyes-type Republican. Along with his wife, he has organized voter drives in Pennsylvania, and been active politically since the 1990 elections. His livelihood, until recently, was spent in automation engineering for a large global equipment manufacturing company, specializing in coal mining. WANB in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania hosted Schmidt's weekly talk radio program "Issues and Answers." His writing is intended to relate the headlines of today to the foundation of eternal truth - the Scriptures. He currently resides in Palm Beach County, Florida. Visit his website at: Inalienable-Rights.org

Send the author an E mail at Schmidt@ConservativeTruth.org.

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