Homeless shelter operating

Leah’s House plan still faces obstacles

Friday, March 2, 2007

Leah’s House, founded by the Rev. Marguerite Morris, took in its first client last September and has kept the house filled since. Morris said there are still many hurdles to overcome, especially gaining acceptance by other homeless and social agencies and finding the funds needed to build a new, larger shelter.

The need for the shelter for abused and⁄or homeless women and children is high. ‘‘We have a lot of people we have to turn away or put on a waiting list,” Morris said. The women and their children are referred from local social work agencies, churches and other shelters, she said.

‘‘If we’re taking care of those clients, something has got to change,” Morris said with regard to reimbursement from social services agencies. The shelter currently receives none, and Morris has not applied for such reimbursement.

Friction is high between Leah’s House and other agencies that aid the homeless, according to Morris and others. Accused of not cooperating with the other agencies and shelters, Morris said that it was those agencies, Three Oaks Shelter in particular, that have set up obstacles and impeded the women’s shelter’s progress. She denies any lack of cooperation on her part and said she has support from community members, including financial donors and volunteers. ‘‘We are upsetting their plan because they are planning to expand,” into women’s sheltering, Morris said of Three Oaks. The men’s shelter has purchased several town houses that it uses to help homeless women and has plans to build a new shelter that will include space for men and women.

One member of a homeless prevention board who did not wish to be identified said Morris has had an option to sign up for a continuum-of-care federal report that other homeless agencies complete every year for funding, but that so far Morris has not supplied the needed information. Morris said she was never asked for the information but plans to supply it for this year’s report, which is being compiled this month.

Morris said that she and Leah’s House have been ‘‘ignored on the board,” and within county government even though she has a shelter in operation and helping women now. She was also upset that she was not invited to be on a new domestic violence board even though serving abused women is part of the Leah’s House mission.

‘‘It needs to stop. We’re here for the community,” Morris said. She said she is still willing to work with all of the agencies and hopes the static will end.

Lanny Lancaster, director of Three Oaks Center, was out of town and unavailable for comment.

The five-bedroom shelter now in use is located in the Great Mills area and houses eight people at a time, Morris said. In an emergency the shelter can take as many as 18 people, she said.

The emergency care shelter is for stays of 30 to 45 days, but many women stay on for up to 18 months through a transitional housing program, she said.

‘‘They can be there until they get permanent housing,” Morris said at a meet and greet breakfast Wednesday morning. She is trying to rally support of government and social service agencies beyond the base of volunteers already in place at the house.

The current shelter is only a temporary location for Leah’s House. Morris has plans to buy the building and three acres at Happyland bar in Valley Lee. The property is under contract and Morris hopes to settle soon and begin a major renovation to be completed within a year.

Morris plans to rebuild a 7,500-square-foot, steel-frame building in place of the current structure. The second floor would initially be used as a home for women and children until a 4,500-square-foot shelter building is constructed in the rear with 30 beds, according to the plan. The larger building would then be used to generate income, Morris said, through a coffee shop and subletting to family businesses such as a day care.

Once the final shelter is complete Morris plans to serve women and children from throughout Southern Maryland, not just St. Mary’s. Morris plans to stay on as founder of the shelter but does not plan to take a salary from it, instead hiring a director to oversee operations. ‘‘It’s still a lot of work that takes a lot of good people who put their hearts and souls into it,” Morris said.

‘‘We have been supportive of it and, gosh, the need is here,” the Rev. Michael Jones of Patuxent Presbyterian Church said. The church, like others in the county, has supported Leah’s House both financially and with volunteers.

Morris relies heavily on volunteers for the shelter and needs both house monitors and case managers. Among the dozens who help now are a group of students from St. Mary’s College of Maryland who pitch in monthly at the shelter.

Pat Tyson, director of the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute of Catholic Community Services, said that Angels Watch, the Hughesville women and children shelter that serves Southern Maryland, is moving to Waldorf, even farther from St. Mary’s County. That will make it even harder logistically for women to live at the shelter, she said. Tyson, who also chairs the St. Mary’s homeless prevention board, said that the problem for homeless women and children has existed for a long time but was never formally recognized by the county and state until recently. The problem of abused women was often kept hidden and not made a priority.

The county this year gave $130,000, up from about $60,000 the year before, to Three Oaks. So far the county has yet to provide money for Leah’s House, although Morris put in a request for $40,000 to the commissioners this week.

‘‘We’ll certainly take her request into consideration,” Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D) said Wednesday. However, he did not hold out much hope for funding this year for the first-time request, which he said was a lot of money considering the building was not secured yet.

‘‘I can certainly see a need [for women’s sheltering] but you’ve got to have some stability in place to move forward” with a new shelter, Russell said.

Another large source of funding Morris is hoping for is a bond bill introduced in the Maryland Senate this session. The bill would provide a matching contribution of up to $250,000.

E-mail Jesse Yeatman at jyeatman@somdnews.com.