Plan Commission Recommends Approval of Homeless Shelter Ordinance

OAK LAWN, IL -- Advocates for the homeless packed the Oak Lawn Planning and Development Commission meeting on Monday urging plan commissioners to table a pending ordinance that will regulate Oak Lawn’s homeless shelters. Of the dozens who spoke during the meeting, not one person was in favor of the proposed ordinance. Opponents have criticized the ordinance as invasive of homeless guests' privacy and hastily crafted, with too many arduous requirements that would make it difficult to replace a shelter provider that drops out. Existing shelters in Oak Lawn -- six in total -- would be grandfathered in.

Village attorney Kevin Casey, of Peterson Johnson Murray, told the audience that the proposed ordinance came out of the Oak Lawn Village Board’s Legislation and License Committee in September. The ordinance was tabled at the plan commission’s October meeting for further discussion and to gather more public comments.

“There has been in social media and the news media some statements or claims as fact that are important to highlight and dispel,” Casey said. “The first one is that the village only wants shelters to serve Oak Lawn’s homeless. We are asking that [the shelters] give preference to guests who once lived in Oak Lawn, but it’s not a requirement.”

>>> Oak Lawn Ministers Oppose Proposed Homeless Shelter Ordinance

Casey also said the ordinance’s requirement to keep a record of the names of all homeless shelter guests and make reports to the village manager is correct, but does not require that these lists be turned over to the police department.

“We just want to know that the lists exist,” Casey said. “It does not require that these lists be turned over to the police department or anyone else. If the police need access to those lists we can make a request. If the shelter or anyone else decides they don’t want to turn over the information we cannot compel them to do so. We can, however, go and ask for a warrant under the law to get that information. So there are no required lists to be turned over or supplemented on a regular basis to the Village of Oak Lawn.”

Planning and Development Commissioner Vernon Zumhagen asked that if keeping a record of overnight homeless guests’ names wasn’t required “why is it in the ordinance?”

The village attorney addressed fire and safety codes, stating that in 2014 the village adopted an updated version of the fire code that required all businesses and churches to come into compliance this past February.

“Even if you were to take this code away and not pass it, it doesn’t change the fact that individuals are required to become in compliance with the code,” Casey said.

He also called the requirement that shelters be licensed by Jan. 1, 2018, in the middle of shelter season, “my biggest faux pas.” A revised version of the ordinance extending the deadline for shelters to obtain a license by Oct. 1, 2018 will be submitted to Oak Lawn trustees.

In August, LaGrange-based BEDS Plus, took over from South Suburban PADS, which works with local faith-based communities to provide professional counseling and other services designed to help homeless guests find permanent housing. Rev. Peggy McClanahan, of Pilgrim Faith United Church of Christ, said BEDS Plus helped 40 households find permanent housing last year during the transition from PADS.

McClanahan’s church, which runs an overnight shelter on Thursday evenings, said it doesn’t do the village any good to have 25 people out on the streets sleeping in doorways because there is no place to shelter them overnight.

“We’ve learned a lot over 20 years about what works, but we know we can’t do our work without the cooperation of the village,” McClanahan said. “It just serves no good to have a shelter close and not be able to open a new shelter. We want to make sure that the restrictions in this ordinance are not so burdensome that it becomes impossible to replace the shelters that have closed.”

Oak Lawn-homeowner Mary Kelly Smith told the commissioners that it was three years before she realized a church three blocks from her house ran an overnight homeless shelter.

“That’s how well-run it is,” Smith said. “My daughter is in kindergarten and is learning kindness. There are two children in her class who are on and off homeless. Thank God for BEDS that they had a place to put their heads ... I’ve been to local craft fairs in churches that have been so crowded I couldn’t get to the bathroom. We need dialogue because these laws look like they’re the beginning of something. They’re making people fearful.”

At the end of the 2 ½ hour public hearing, planning and development commissioners recommended the ordinance for approval by the village board 7 to 1 -- with Zumhagen the dissenting vote.

After the meeting, McClanahan said village officials have not been willing to work collaboratively with ministers or BEDS Plus.

“We still didn’t know that the ordinance was coming,” she said. “We did not see the revised ordinance until last week. They never sat down or came back to us.”

The Oak Lawn Village Board will vote on the temporary homeless shelter ordinance at their next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at Oak Lawn Village Hall, 9446 S. Raymond St.