Academic

Palm Beach shelter's days are numbered

By Jacqueline Dowd

In Palm Beach County, there are no real emergency shelter beds. Westgate Tabernacle Church provides services for more than 100 people per day.

Faced with mounting debt and an ongoing battle with Palm Beach County, Westgate Tabernacle Church, the shelter of last resort for the homeless, is for sale.

The 80-year-old church functions as one of the county's largest homeless shelters, with at times more than 100 people sleeping in bunk beds and between church pews. But the church is broke, with about $11,000 in outstanding bills and just $5,000 in the bank, said pastor Avis Hill.

He said an appraisal put the church's value at $1.3 million to $1.7 million, proceeds he hopes to use to buy a smaller church elsewhere, a community friendlier to the homeless.

Read the Palm Beach Post report here.

Previous posts:
Jury sides with Palm Beach County
Church offers settlement to Palm Beach County
"... such a primitive shelter in such a luxurious county?
Church homeless shelter is crowded but needed
"We're getting pounced on because the county is not doing anything"
Advocates for homeless fault Palm Beach County for inaction
Trial over sheltering homeless interrupted

Full post as published by the 13th juror on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).