JONESBORO -- A week after announcing plans to convert a former nursing home into a homeless shelter and mental-health crisis center, Jonesboro officials now say they won't open the facility because of objections from residents who live near it.
The Homeless Ministries of Jonesboro's board of directors decided Thursday evening to scrap plans for the center.
Murl Smith, director of the nonprofit organization, announced with city leaders Sept. 29 that Reliance Health Care Inc. donated its 24,700-square-foot Ridgecrest Health Care nursing home for use as a homeless shelter. Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said the former 83-bed facility also could be used as a place to house up to 16 mental-health patients.
But when opposition to the plan arose, the organization changed its plans.
"After meeting with residents of the North Church Street community and hearing the concerns and opposition to any type of homeless ministry in this area, it has become clear that this property is no longer a viable location," the board said in a statement released after Thursday's meeting.
Jonesboro Superintendent Kim Willbanks said she was concerned about the plans because the school district's Math and Science Elementary School is near the proposed facility.
Willbanks was out of town Friday and not available for comment. Assistant Superintendent Karleen Sheets said she could not comment about the homeless shelter.
"We have homeless students in all our schools," she said. "We will continue serving and taking care of our kids."
Smith could not be reached for comment Friday.
Board member Danny Pridmore did not return telephone messages Friday.
"I am saddened by our inability to secure a facility to serve our homeless population," Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin said in a statement Friday. "Nothing affects a family's hope for the future like being evicted from their home, so we will continue to work for our homeless."
Perrin said the facility would not be a "halfway house" that endangers neighborhoods.
"They want to be Christian brothers and sisters to our less fortunate residents in their time of need," he said in the statement.
Bill Campbell, a spokesman for the city, said he was disappointed by the board's decision to forgo opening the donated center. It would have been the first time the Craighead County city of 71,551 people has had a shelter for the homeless in more than 20 years.
"There were a lot of pre-concerns that they felt the answers didn't come too soon," Campbell said of the board's reason to no longer pursue the shelter.
"It takes time to get answers," he said.
Jonesboro isn't the only Arkansas city that has run into resistance when trying to find a place for its homeless people.
Wynne officials tabled plans to convert an old apartment complex into a homeless shelter after opposition arose. Officials there said they will look for another location to build the shelter.
Conway also has seen opposition to building new shelters. In September, a nonprofit charitable group asked to rezone property on South Donaghey Avenue near homes and an elementary school for a homeless shelter.
The group dropped its request after receiving opposition.
"We would rather withdraw this request and go back to the drawing board on where this shelter needs to be rather than cause this much dissension and fighting," David Hogue, a board member for the nonprofit group, said after the decision to table the plan.
In Jonesboro, plans called for converting the former nursing home on the northern edge of the city, which closed in 2015 when it moved to a new location on U.S. 49, into both a shelter for homeless people and a stabilization unit for mentally ill people with whom law enforcement officers come in contact.
The sheriff had advocated for Craighead County to be chosen as a site when Gov. Asa Hutchinson granted $1.6 million to four locations under Arkansas Act 423 of 2017, which called for an increase in monitoring probationers and parolees, and to help those with mental impairments.
Along with Jonesboro, the governor also chose "crisis stabilization units" in Pulaski, Sebastian and Washington counties.
Boyd said the mental health unit would feature 16 beds and personnel to assess and treat mentally ill patients. It would have been run separate from the homeless shelter.
Now, he said, the city could lose the $1.6 million in grant money.
"We moved quickly on this," he said. "They announced it less than 48 hours after getting the donated property. I guess it moved too quickly for the opposition."
Boyd said he may try to open the crisis stabilization at the county jail, but the lockup carries a negative connotation.
"It sends a wrong message," he said. "If we have it at the jail, some people may think it's just an extension of the lockup. This [facility] would have made it so we no longer treat mental illness as a crime.
"I still plan to go forward with the unit," Boyd said. "We're just delayed now."
State Desk on 10/08/2017