Surprising turn in conversation about a low-barrier shelter on Cherry Avenue

As an hours-long meeting that discussed transforming The Salvation Army’s Cherry Avenue thrift store into a low-barrier homeless shelter was drawing to a close Thursday night, the agency’s Corps Officer Major Mark Van Meter revealed something rather startling.

The Salvation Army cannot run a low-barrier shelter.

The agency offered in fall 2024 to operate one at 604 Cherry Ave. if no other homeless service provider could. But, it turns out, its national policies forbid it from relaxing the rules for entry enough for the shelter to be “low barrier.” It must require guests to have a government-issued form of identification, then pass a breathalyzer, a drug test, and a background check, Van Meter said. (Low-barrier shelters typically eschew these requirements.)

When Van Meter said this, the folks at the monthly Fifeville Neighborhood Association meeting who had gathered to hear him and City Manager Sam Sanders speak about the proposed shelter fell suddenly quiet. 

“How is that a low-barrier shelter?” asked Matthew Gillikin, a Fifeville resident and co-chair of Livable Cville, a housing and transportation advocacy group.

“There’s a difference between low-barrier and no barrier,” Van Meter replied.

Looking at Sanders, Gillikin said, “He just advertised something that is not the same as what you’re advertising.” 

“I’m concerned about that, too,” said Sanders. “It could be the trigger that says we can’t go forward.”

Charlottesville’s city manager tells Fifeville residents that his proposed low-barrier shelter might not move forward unless another agency volunteers to run it

This revelation is the latest turn in Sanders’ quest to build a low-barrier shelter in the city. (This newsletter I wrote in December describes the journey, and some of the pitfalls officials have experienced along the way.)

Sanders has considered multiple locations for a low-barrier shelter, and The Salvation Army’s thrift store on Cherry is the most practical, he said Thursday.

When neighbors initially learned of the plan last fall, many came forward with concerns. 

The building is in a residential neighborhood next to a popular park and a nonprofit organization that serves children. Would the shelter draw sex offenders? Would there be drug use on the site? Intoxicated individuals causing problems?

After hearing these concerns from Fifeville residents, reporter Erin O’Hare decided to seek out answers. She met up (virtually) with a national expert in low-barrier shelters to ask some of these questions.

Mary Frances Kenion, vice president of training and technical assistance for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, had a lot to say about what a low-barrier shelter is — and how it can be run safely.

As the city debates funding a low-barrier homeless shelter, one expert says there are ways to make it safer for everyone

The City’s goal remains to build a low-barrier shelter in Charlottesville, but there’s no timeline on when officials will make any decisions, Sanders told Fifeville residents Thursday night.

We’ll continue following this critical civic issue. If you have any questions about low-barrier shelters, or homelessness more broadly, send them to us here! We might not be able to answer all your questions, but they will help inform our coverage going forward.

Stay warm this weekend!
Jessie Higgins, Democracy Editor