Some neighbors say the shelter could make their part of town less safe and that the site selection process should have been more public.

Supporters, including the United Church of Chapel Hill next door, disagree. IFC Executive Director Chris Moran disputes research by neighborhood opponents that they say shows the current shelter at 100 W. Rosemary St. attracts crime.

The voices of homeless men affected by the Community House move have largely been absent from discussion. The Chapel Hill News sat down with four members of the new Community House Resident Advisory Council: Michael Wood, Mark Terrell, Ronald Miles, and J. Freeman.

CHN: What brought you to Community House?

Wood: I've been here since January and during that period of time, after 40 years of being a drug addict and an alcoholic, I'm drug free.

Terrell: I've been on my own since I was 8 years old. ... My health started going bad about three years ago. They'll help you, but first of all, you got to help yourself. That's the main thing. The way the economy is, it's hard to find work anymore and since they took down a lot of our textile mills and cotton mills, that took a lot of work away from a lot of people.

Freeman: I was formerly homeless and spent 15 months at Community House. If you find yourself in a position where there is no help available that you know about and even if you come here to unwind and process to get through it ... to become formerly homeless as I have, it's a major step... There is that thought ... that panic [about] what happens if this place wasn't here.

Miles: I was born in Chapel Hill, I worked here for most of my life. I became disabled a few months ago. [I] never thought I'd be homeless but it's a lot of help here, and it's a good program to help you get back on track if you use it properly.

CHN: How do you respond to concerns that Community House attracts crime?

Wood: We're judged by a lot of people who don't live here. You see the people down Franklin Street panhandling and stuff; they don't live here. There are a lot of people who don't want to live here because there are too many constraints put on them.

Terrell: It's not true ... because we don't tolerate it here. If things start to become a problem they get rid of it right quick. If it takes calling 911 to escort you off then that's what we have to do. This is here to help everyone, and we don't need any problems. We don't cause problems here; we get along with each other. Very seldom do we have a crime around this shelter.

Freeman: When you recite this address, there is no question as to where it is and what it is, not just with police, but with a large group of the community. If crime were as rampant here as some believe it [is], I do believe that we would have a greater police presence here, an all-day police presence, which does not happen. I understand the fears of the community, but some of those fears are unjustified.

CHN: Some neighbors of the proposed site are concerned there are too many social services concentrated in one part of Chapel Hill.

Wood: I have some sympathy that homeowners are concerned because I owned homes. I don't know how I'd feel. Knowing what I know now, I'd have no concern about a shelter, [and] living around one. I think they might feel more positive about a shelter if they'd speak to some volunteers. We're people just like everybody else. Most of us are trying to get ahead. ... I want to get out of here and get my own place. I can appreciate how someone might look with a bit of reluctance about a homeless shelter in their neighborhood."

Freeman: [The site] is closer in proximity [to other services] than we are now, and it [would] be far easier for men to make their appointments to make the necessary comeback [from homelessness]. One of the things that is really difficult is that we all register with these services but we spend time being shuffled from one agency to another agency.

Terrell: The land was donated to us...and it's a big site, that's the reason we're trying to get the shelter there.

CHN: The new shelter proposal includes 17 beds for an emergency shelter to house the homeless overnight. Those people would be released each morning and neighbors are concerned they may be disruptive to the neighborhood. How do you respond?

Freeman: More homeless people will be coming through the shelter, but once they get to the shelter they will basically be served dinner and camped on the property until check-in time of 8 o'clock. Even though, yes, people who are homeless drink, [and] they do other things, [but] those people will not be turned loose in the community to disturb the neighbors. Unlike where the shelter is located now, there would be no reason if you're thrown out ...to hang out because there's nothing but social services. [Those people] would need to come to where the action is [and] that would lead them from there back to downtown. It's one thing to acknowledge the fact that different people will be coming into your neighborhood - you also need to realize that the things those people are after are not housed in your neighborhood, except for a place to stay. I don't personally believe that it will become a place for people to hang out.

Terrell: If they're not going through the program we have, then they won't be staying here. Unless it's 40 degrees or lower is the only time they can be there anyway and if it's above 95 degrees. Unless the hospital sends them, they [non-Community House residents] have no reason to be here.

CHN: What do you think is missing from public discussion on the shelter site?

Freeman: There is not enough information...the general public can be guarded. [This] shelter does benefit the community. They don't put in the effort to get true information. The outside world treats and thinks of us as the unknown. There's a different thought process that happens in the mind when people think or know that you're homeless. The only way to get true information is to talk to a homeless person and that they will not do. They just look up on a Web site and get this address. They don't know a thing about the place.

CHN: What is the public's pereption of homelessness in Chapel Hill?

Terrell: People always think the worst of the homeless, and they shouldn't feel that way. None of them will come down here to eat or to talk to any of us. They're afraid to come here for some odd reason.