Community Backlash Threatens the Fate of Downtown Morgantown Homeless Facility

By Brieanna Autry

Abel Burris approached the podium at the October 1 Morgantown City Council Meeting with his speech in his hands and a purpose on his mind.

Despite moving his business, Lefty’s Place, from downtown Morgantown months ago, he addressed the council in hopes of drawing attention to an issue he and many other business owners have found especially concerning.

“During my time on Walnut Street, I witnessed a change from a charmingly gritty downtown street to a street that my guests did not feel safe visiting,” says Burris. “This was a direct result of the Friendship House moving in. The amount of loitering dramatically increased. People harassing others for money and sleeping in doorways and on streets also increased.”

The rising tension between the Friendship House and the businesses on Walnut and adjacent downtown streets in Morgantown has been the topic of discussion for the past several weeks at city council meetings. Many business owners cite displays of violence, drug-use, and erratic conduct by the homeless population that has impacted the reputation of Walnut Street and surrounding streets, and has caused hoards of customers to fear the downtown area.

“Every day in downtown Morgantown, we see people sleeping in doorways, on benches, right on the sidewalk, drug deals are going on before my eyes every day on Walnut Street,” says Gary Tannenbaum, owner of Blue Moose Café. “It’s all pretty much an offshoot of what’s going on at the Friendship House.”

The Friendship House reopened in 2016 downtown as a facility for underprivileged members of the community to seek shelter, eat, and receive mental and physical health services, and while this wasn’t the first facility in Morgantown for homeless and underserved community members, it was the first with a variety of resources.

The program serves around 80 people a day, have served more than 5,000 meals in the program’s lifetime, offered over 375 mental health groups a year, 632 referrals to housing, and substance abuse treatments.

“People are blaming us for the homeless problem in Morgantown, but what they don’t understand is that we service nearly 100 people a day,” says Morgan Wood, a staff member at the Friendship House. “If we weren’t there, all of those people would be standing in front of doorways and in your stores.”

Kim Noble, owner of Dirty Bird on High Street, proposed that the Morgantown Police Department install new lights and security cameras on Walnut Street to monitor the homeless population.

“I know a lot of these people, I feed a lot of these people, I like them,” said Noble at the October 29 Morgantown City Council Meeting. “I commend what the Friendship [House] does, I just think that maybe the city can work with the business owners and the Friendship House and HealthRight to fix these issues.”

Volunteers at the Friendship House listen to the conversations about their clients, and watch as these conversations impact them, often causing them to feel alienated from the community more than before.

“They think we’re violent, on drugs, not human,” said Marcus ‘Prince’ Jones, a volunteer at the Friendship House. “They are scared because they don’t know us, they just see the isolated incidents, the people who do bad things, and label us all bad.”

Jones had struggled with homelessness for years, and found the Friendship House a few years ago. When his life stabilized, he began volunteering at the center.

“It helped me, and I know it helps other people,” Jones said. “There is so much offered here, people can’t see that from the outside, but they refuse to just see what we’re all about.”

Dave Davis, a client in the transitional phase between homeless and independent at the Friendship House, said that he wouldn’t be where he is now if not for the center.

“I had to eat out of the trash,” Davis said. “There were days where I had no where to go.”

He spoke about all of the resources that the center offered that enabled him to go from homeless to renting his own apartment.

“The people here helped me find my very own apartment,” Davis continues. “I move in next week!”

While the issue of homelessness in Morgantown doesn’t have a quick fix, the community members and the Friendship House have already started to come together to try and fix it.

“We’ve organized a round table discussion with us, the business owners, and city council to brainstorm ideas on how to fix it the problem instead of passing blame off onto each other,” said Dani Ludwig, volunteer at the Friendship House.

Until then, a disconnect between business owners, the community members, and the homeless community members continues to present itself in the community discussions.

However, the clients, volunteers, and staff at the Friendship House remain hopeful for their future, and empathetic to those denouncing the center’s mission.

“We love you even if you don’t care about us, and we will continue to love you until you understand what we’re really trying to do here,” Jones said.