Judge Rules Somerville Church Can Continue Operating Homeless Shelter

SOMERVILLE, MA — A local church is in the clear to continue using its ground floor as an emergency homeless shelter after a land court judge ruled in its favor this week, according to court documents.

The First Church of Somerville at 89 College Ave. was first issued a building permit in June 2024 to utilize the portion of the building as an overnight spot for those who are homeless. The decision was made after the church determined it was “called by God” during a discernment process in the fall of 2023.

“First Church Somerville lives to make God’s expansive love and justice real through radically inclusive sanctuary, authentic connection, spiritual exploration, and transformative community engagement,” the church stated in the aftermath of its discernment process.

The church has been partners with the Somerville Coalition for the Homeless for more than 25 years, and the Coalition’s Executive Director Michael Libby reportedly approached Rev. Jenn Macy with the idea, leading to the discernment deliberation.

After two months of public hearings, the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals decided to uphold the permit. The lawsuit followed approximately two weeks later.

Residents Jane Becker and Maren Chiu sued the church arguing that the existence of the shelter would make the neighborhood less safe and affect property tax values.

“The court concluded that Plaintiffs had introduced sufficient evidence from which a reasonable inference could be made that at least one of them was aggrieved by issuance of the building permit,” the case file reads.

Becker and Chiu argued that the church’s actions should not be protected by the Dover Amendment, which Judge Diane Rubin ultimately disagreed with. The Dover Amendment is a state law that limits the ability of municipalities to use zoning regulations to prohibit or restrict certain high-priority land uses. To qualify, the main purpose of the land use must be religious or educational.

“The purpose of leasing the ground floor to the Coalition is to advance the religious mission of First Church and the spiritual growth of the congregation,” Rubin said in the ruling. “I reject the Plaintiffs’ effort to characterize the dominant and primary purpose of the ground floor as housing, somehow separate and apart from First Church’s use of the Church Building as a whole. The Discernment Task Force specifically considered how First Church and the shelter could share the Church Building.”

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