ELKHART — A plan to put a transitional home for women recently released from prison in an Elkhart neighborhood is not getting a favorable recommendation from city staff.

Faith Temple Ministries is asking the Elkhart Board of Zoning Appeals for a use variance to allow for a single-family home at 2542 Frances Ave. to be used as transitional housing for women who were recently released from incarceration.

The BZA will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Municipal Building, 229 S. Second St.

Christine Hunt, pastor and founder, said in her petition to the BZA that she is opening the home she has lived in for the past 25 years to women because she sees a need for a transitional home after ministering at the county jail. There are only three such homes for all of Elkhart County, she said.

The program, called Beauty for Ashes, empowers women with “alternative life skills” and will “help women integrate back into society with a positive and successful outlook.”

“Our goal is to mentor and counsel the women by setting into motion preparations for a second chance, providing temporary housing,” she said.

“As our church ministers at the Elkhart County correctional jail system there are a number of women that we’ve spoken to that say there are very few resources or alternatives available: skills, budgeting, substance abuse classes (group), spiritual values, housekeeping, reintegrating back into the community, personal hygiene, self-respect, how to pay it forward and mentoring,” Hunt said in her application.

In order to live there, according to the city’s zoning staff report, residents must work at least 35 hours per week. They pay 30 percent of their monthly income toward rent and the remainder of the program’s cost comes from churches and donors.

The city’s staff is recommending denial of the request.

“One of the purposes of a Zoning Ordinance is to promote the public health, safety, comfort, morals, convenience and general welfare. Within the R-1 district, the intent of the ordinance is to protect and conserve existing and future residential development,” the staff report states.

Hunt said there will be no violent offenders or child molesters allowed to live in the home. The screening process indicates that a prior violation of drug dealing also disqualifies a woman from placement.

The report predicts land values of surrounding single-family homes would decrease in the area and “the neighborhood could be deemed less attractive and less stable than a similar neighborhood without transitional housing,” it states.

It goes on to say “... the perception could exist that the residents are not adequately rehabilitated to reside in this neighborhood of long-term stability; there could be concerns about activities leading to re-incarceration ...”

Staff said of the 33 homes within 300 feet of the site, 30 are owner occupied, according to county tax records.

“Traditionally, a neighborhood with a low percentage of rental properties is perceived as being more stable than a high percentage rental area,” the staff report said.

Hunt said she has raised 15 children and has had as many as nine people living in the home at one time.

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