Homeless Shelter Task Force Adds Members, Will Meet Friday

The Louisville task force that will help determine how homeless shelters are regulated will meet again Friday.This will be the group's second meeting. It was formed last year to address a gap in the law that leaves homeless shelters without a clear zoning definition. The gap has delayed Wayside Christian Mission's efforts to establish a shelter downtown, and the task force will make a recommendation for how shelters should be zoned.Since the first meeting, Metro Planning Assistant Director Dawn Warrick says four more members have been brought in."From [the] Homebuilders Association, from the Urban League and from Church-affiliated community service agency…and I'm still trying to finish recruiting somebody representing small business and GLI," she says.The group will meet six times between now and March, but  Warrick says there's no deadline for the task force to complete its work."The task force is fairly dynamic. It's got a lot of people on it. And to get that group to all push forward and accomplish this in six meetings is going to be a feat."Much of Friday's meeting will be spent comparing homeless shelters to establishments like boarding houses that are covered by zoning law."We have other communal living types of definitions," says Warrick. "Certainly multi-family and rehabilitation homes. But those aren't exactly hitting the mark when it comes to some of these other facilities we need to find a home for."