Throughout the morning, the homeless were provided with fliers, telling them they could seek assistance through other agencies.
“I read about it, and I’m not too happy,” said Michael Katz, who has been staying at the shelter for a month, and was seeking lunch from the charity’s kitchen on Avenue G. “There are a lot of disabled veterans like myself living up here who have no options - you can’t just spring this on us with a week’s notice.”
Volunteers at the shelter were asked not to speak to the media, but director Ray Severn said the agency is in the process of filing an appeal in district court to allow the buildings to remain open.
“We’re in the process of putting an appeal together with our attorneys,” Severn said. “The purpose of the appeal is so that 80 or more people don’t end up out on the streets next week.”
Assistant City Attorney Trudy Dill said she had not received notice or been served papers concerning an appeal. “I have not heard anything about an appeal yet, so I wouldn’t want to speculate,” she said.
As of press time Tuesday, officials with Bell County district courts said they had not received anything from Martha’s Kitchen regarding an appeal. City officials said the agency has 30 days to make an appeal in court.
Many tenants, like Gaylon Love, said they were upset with the decision to close the buildings.
“It’s not the nicest place in the world, but I’d rather have a place to stay than be homeless,” said Love, who has been living at the shelter since February while working at a pay-as-you-work sanitation job.
“It’s not like I enjoy being homeless,” Love said.
He said he became homeless when he was forced out of a family residence. “I want to work, and I want a roof over my head. I just can’t find a good enough job around here to do that.”
Dwayne Brunkhardt, who has lived at the shelter for about a month, said the commission’s decision angered him. “Half the people that use this kitchen don’t stay in the dorms,” Brunkhardt said. “A lot of young women and children come up here looking for food.”
Following the decision, Severn said the women’s dorm and kitchen would remain open as long as they could sustain themselves.
Brunkhardt said he lost two part-time jobs he had in the spring, and was living out of a hotel before the costs became too much to bear. “This place does what it can with the money it has,” he said.
“I don’t know of any other shelter in the area,” Severn said. “I think (the commission) made their decision based on bad data.”
After Monday’s commission meeting, Severn said the decision would slowly lead to the shutdown of the agency.
Severn said closing the men’s dorm and the stores means “we’re not going to have as much money coming in, and we won’t have the males to work in the kitchen.
“If you have something that has six moving parts, you can’t just take out parts and keep going,” Severn said.
The commission vote gave the agency 90 days from Monday to make repairs that were requested last October.
During the meeting, city officials listed issues it had with the agency’s structures including electrical, plumbing, structural and safety issues, health conditions, bugs and rodents, and sanitary conditions in the kitchen and restroom areas.
A lot of discussion was made about a state law that orders commercial structures that are remodeled or have repair work to have an asbestos survey done before work can be completed or permits issued. Severn argued that he did not have enough money set aside from what the agency’s board approved to have the survey done, but did make a large effort to make the repairs the city requested. Meanwhile, the city argued the repairs were done illegally, without permits.
Martha’s Kitchen has been a staple on Avenue G for about 25 years. Code enforcement along Avenue G is part of the city’s strategic investment zone initiative, started more than a year ago, to crack down on code violations.
Bell County Help Center director Judy Morales was critical of the shelter’s conditions during Monday’s board meeting. Severn said he was not happy about Morales’ attempt to take away tenants from the shelter.
“She has been trying to needle away at Martha’s Kitchen for years. It’s no surprise to me that she’s doing this.”
