Putnam church turned homeless shelter draws criticism

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Zanesville First United Methodist Church on Putnam Avenue has been opening their doors to the local homeless population and is now coming under criticism from some locals.

Each night at 8 p.m. the church opens its door to the homeless and each morning they are removed from the church. This has lead some to take concern about a rise in crime in the area.

“The issue is this, as I understand it. Where as the Salvation Army is a traditional homeless shelter, they do background checks on you, look for drugs, alcohol, they make sure you are not a sexual predator,” said Zanesville Law Director David Tarbert. “What my issues are with the Methodist Church is that they are not doing any of that. There is no oversight.”

Since the church began opening their doors Tarbert said that Zanesville Police have received 228 calls to the facility and Fire Department has responded to approximately 45. Tarbert said they have a petition with more than 100 signatures from area residents and business owners to try to force more oversight.

“They are just hanging out on the front porch of the steps,” said Tarbert. “They are harassing the business owners. They are harassing the community members. They are scaring the kids that are walking to the bus stop during the school year. There are hypodermic needles down there. There are prostitutes that are working that area out of that facility.”

The church disputes all of Tarbert’s claim. They state that the number of calls to Zanesville Police has gone down in the past year and that prostitution does not run through their facility. Church treasure Roxanne Watts says the problems in Putnam do not steam from their church.

“Everyone knows that this is an impoverished area of Zanesville,” said Watts. “This church is meeting these peoples needs. But the crime, the drugs, the prostitution, all of that, was here before the shelter.”

Tarbert has sent a letter to the church addressing the locals concerns. They have responded and set up a meeting with Tarbert and Public Safety Director Fred Buck for July 25.