Over the past several months we, like many other Park Ridge residents, have tried to get a handle on whether Park Ridge really has a “homelessness problem” and, if so, whether a PADS shelter is the best way to deal with it.  At this point, we still aren’t sure about the first question, but we are leaning toward “No” on the second.

The way the Park Ridge Ministerial Association (“PRMA”) has gone about trying to bring a PADS homeless shelter to Park Ridge, however, has been disappointing – starting with its failure to get community support in advance, followed by its trying to jam the shelter down the throats of the St. Mary’s Episcopal neighbors, and continuing with its insistence that it is above the City’s zoning laws because its proposed branch of the secular, government-subsidized PADS to Hope, Inc.’s franchise is a “religious ministry.” 

That has proved to be a recipe for divisiveness, with citizens split not only over the issue of whether Park Ridge should get into the homeless business by accepting a PADS flophouse du jour and inviting in PADS “clients” from outside Park Ridge, but also on the issue of whether PADS shelters might be more effective in promoting homelessness than in reducing it.  Some citizens, including members of the City Council, are even divided on whether religious organizations can tell the city to pound sand with its zoning laws.

But despite the wrongheadedness of the PRMA and the divisiveness this issue already has caused, we believe there has to be a better way, if not several better ways, to address whatever homelessness problem there might be, preferably ones on which the community as a whole can be consulted in advance and around which a consensus can be built. 

Perhaps the simplest and most common sense alternative to setting up a PADS shelter in a local church is to get the homeless cheap rooms in a local motel. 

For example, the standard rate at the Days Inn Niles (6450 West Touhy) for a room with 2 double beds and a complimentary continental breakfast is currently around $80/night, tax included.  Each such room can house at least 2 “guests,” or $40/night per person, although the PRMA should be able to get a better rate if it guarantied 8 rooms every Sunday for the maximum 15 “guests” we’ve been told the Park Ridge shelter should expect.  Some non-chain motels in the area might be cheaper still. 

But even at that standard rate, 8 rooms @ $80 is $640 per week, or $17,920 over the roughly 28-week (October through April) PADS season.  That’s just $1,500 for each of the 12 PRMA member churches if they split the cost equally.  And this plan comes with some additional benefits, including providing extra revenue for a private, taxpaying business on what might otherwise be a slow night (Sunday), and generating sales/occupancy taxes for Niles or whatever other community in which the motel is situated.

Of course, under this plan the PRMA would still need volunteers to provide logistical support, such as some transportation, monitoring, and whatever food might be needed to supplement the continental breakfast that comes with the rooms.  But the homeless get sheltered, PRMA members can claim credit for it, and both a private business owner and a local government reap some unexpected economic benefits. 

That sure sounds like a win-win-win situation to us, and one that should satisfy the PRMA – assuming that it truly is more concerned with getting homeless people out of the elements for a night than it is with helping PADS to HOPE, Inc. build its brand, expand its franchise network to Park Ridge, and leverage even more money out of the government and private contributors. 

But that’s just one idea.  We welcome others.