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Drop-In Site For Homeless Stirs Passions

By Arianne Aryanpur

Thursday, October 25, 2007

About 100 Ashburn residents have signed a petition opposing plans to open a facility on Ashburn Road providing services to the homeless, the petition drive’s organizer said.

Melanie Bancroft said she started going door-to-door with the petition Sunday, the day before leaders of Good Shepherd Alliance and several elected officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the project.

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Lyle Werner, executive director of the Good Shepherd Alliance, stands outside the old roofing company in Ashburn that is being renovated. When the building reopens, it will be the new headquarters. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Lyle Werner, Good Shepard Alliance executive director, stands inside the group's new headquarters. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Mary Fittro, right, stands with Lyle Werner inside the area that will house the new thrift store. Fritto is the thrift store manager. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Lyle Werner is standing in an area that will become part of the Good Shepard Alliance's Drop-In Center. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Good Shepherd, a Christian nonprofit group that operates three homeless shelters in the county, plans to open the facility next year and call it the Center of Hope. The building, formerly the site of a roofing company, will house Good Shepherd’s administrative offices, a thrift store and a daytime drop-in center where homeless people can get a meal, a shower and information about jobs and social services.

The nonprofit group’s headquarters and drop-in center are currently in Leesburg, and its thrift store is in Sterling. Good Shepherd officials have said the move to Ashburn will allow them to consolidate and upgrade those facilities.

Bancroft said she and other residents were misled by Good Shepherd into thinking that the building would house only the thrift store and the administrative offices. She said she learned about the drop-in center from an article in the Sunday edition of The Washington Post.

“We feel like this was billed as something it was not,” said Bancroft, adding that she was concerned that homeless people using the daytime services might loiter in Ashburn after the center closes.

“I’m afraid it’s going to be my back yard where they’re sleeping,” she said.

Good Shepherd’s executive director, Lyle Werner, said she has spoken with Bancroft and is willing to meet with other homeowners to hear concerns.

“We’re certainly planning to reach out to those residents and answer the questions they have and disperse correct information,” she said.

Werner said Good Shepherd’s plans for the building are allowed under the property’s zoning and therefore did not need approval from the Board of Supervisors. She said the county is planning to add a stop on one of its bus routes so that visitors can arrive and leave without a car. Good Shepherd is planning to limit visits to the drop-in center to one hour, she added.

“This is not a homeless shelter,” Werner said. “No one is going to sleep here.”

Bancroft said she was not convinced. She is planning to voice her concerns before the Board of Supervisors.

“Thankfully, we don’t have a homeless problem in Ashburn,” Bancroft said. “Why bring a problem to us that doesn’t already exist?”

Copyright 2009 The Washington Post Company