In May, 2008, UNC purchased land at the corner of MLK Blvd and Homestead Road from Duke Power. This land will be leased by UNC to the Town of Chapel Hill for the purpose of placing a homeless shelter on it. The Town of Chapel Hill will in turn provide a fifty-year sublease with an additional ten year renewal option to the Inter-Faith Council (IFC) at a cost of $1 per year.

IFC documents sites considered including Merritt Mill, Legion, and Millhouse Roads and Homestead Road by the senior center and close to Community Church.  Most sites suffered from fundamental problems like streams, huge gullyies, problematic sewer, etc. (which is why they were free). 

The IFC's recent site search was far from exhaustive; it looked at mostly free land and ignored other properties that may have been suitable.  Land value for the proposed shelter is a mere 10% of the total project cost, so all land in Orange County should have been considered. 

The IFC's site requirements include room to expand the facility.  So not only will all of the at-risk social services be located in this tiny part of Chapel Hill, but just like the Freedom House drug detoxification center, they will expand.



Town staff performed the most recent search for the county’s only men’s homeless shelter with no public notice and with no public input, using only the IFC’s list of requirements.  The town took it upon itself to perform this search without the involvement of Orange County Government or any of the other municipalities in the community who could have taken a turn at hosting the men’s shelter.