http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=6e8989ce-6bf2-4a12-bbb2-bead3458fa6aKeene residents aim to save shack for homeless
By MELANIE PLENDA
Sunday News Correspondent
KEENE – Area residents, businesses and churches are scrambling to improve a shack used as shelter by six homeless men after the city cited the men for code violations.
Keene Mayor Dale Pregent said city code enforcement officers and the Keene fire chief on Thursday inspected the shack --located on private property off Route 12 -- and made recommendations for repairs. He said the men weren't given a deadline to complete the work, but were cited for not having a building permit.
The city has not decided on a further course of action, the mayor said.
"We knew when (officials) went out there that we weren't going to find a model of a building being built the proper way, but we have not made a final recommendation on what we are going to do," he said.
Pregent said city officials will meet tomorrow morning to discuss the issue.
In the meantime, he said, the city was looking to see what it could do to help the men find other accommodations, but, he added some of the men preferred to live in the woods, rather than abide by the strict rules imposed by shelters.
He said the city's chief concern is for the men's safety.If Don Primrose, a resident of nearby Sullivan, has his way, the men will get to remain in the shack.
Sullivan said he has been organizing residents and business to help the men make the necessary fixes to the building and vowed that the volunteers would form a human chain around the shack if the city tried to evict its inhabitants, who, he said, have been in contact with New Hampshire Legal Assistance.
"They've been out there for years, not hurting anybody," Primrose said.
"They are just out there doing their own thing and doing pretty well."Pregent said a series of articles in a local newspaper that reported on the men's shack and living conditions had brought the homeless camp to the city's attention. He said city officials were not surprised to discover the men did not have a permit for the building.
"Homeless men generally aren't going to come in and ask for a building permit," he said. "We're not trying to criticize; we are just trying to do what's best for the men."
In addition, Pregent said, he and other officials also are considering what liability the city would have if the men are allowed to remain in the structure.
The shack --a 20-by-20-foot timber frame building with plywood walls, a roof and window --is located in the woods on land owned by Timothy Robertson. Inside, the men sleep on mattresses and keep warm with a wood stove.Robertson could not be reached for comment, but two city councilors, Pamela Russell Slack and Charles Redfern, said
he has allowed the homeless men to live on his property.According to Primrose, a portable restroom will be delivered to the site tomorrow, and, he said, the shack's inhabitants are working on fixing violations, using building materials donated by area churches.
Primrose also said he gave the men a cell phone, to enable them to call him if the city arrives to condemn their building. He said he had set up an e-mail and phone tree to mobilize as many as 50 volunteers.
Two local coffee houses have offered to provide coffee to the volunteers and a nearby Hannaford Supermarket has offered to donate food to the cause, he said.
The shacks inhabitants and countless others have lived behind Hannaford's for years, said Keene City Councilor Pamela Russell Slack. But usually they live in tents, she said.
It was only recently, she said, that city officials were made aware there was a structure there. She said the issue has not been brought before the city council, nor had the council officially been informed of last week's actions by code enforcement officers.
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Topic: Tent City to Shack City: Keene homeless try to keep their unapproved shelter (Read 2806 times)