Arkansas Non-Profit Cancels Purchase of Homeless Shelter for LGBT Youth After Threat

Potential Neighbor Threatened to Publicly Disclose Location

Lucie’s Place, an Arkansas non-profit organization, was forced to cancel its purchase of a home in Little Rock that it had hoped would harbor homeless LGBT youth after receiving a threatening, anonymous email from a potential neighbor.

The organization, self-described as a “non-profit organization in Little Rock working with and assisting LGBT young adults experiencing homelessness in Central Arkansas,” provides LGBT youth with bus passes, cell phones, toiletries, clothes, referrals to other programs and case management.

“Individuals are able to utilize the drop-in center to work on job applications, resumes, continuing education, or as a place to hang out during the day when they have nowhere else to go,” their website reads. “For many, this center is the only physical place in town where they can go without fear of discrimination, harassment or violence.”

Lucie’s Place currently has a four-bedroom home to help LGBT youth, and had nearly completed its purchase of a second, seven-bedroom home, when they were forced to cancel the sale.

“Penelope Poppers, executive director of Lucie’s Place, said the nonprofit was midway through the sale and was prepared to close on the property as soon as it received the use permit from the city,” the Arkansas Times reported. “Poppers said the group initially received some pushback from neighbors unhappy about the idea of a homeless shelter in their neighborhood but were able to allay those concerns by explaining its nature: a small residential setting for formerly homeless young people to develop life skills and get back on their feet.”

Poppers told the outlet that pushback had come “before we had a chance to disseminate the correct information,” noting that “once we did, the tide shifted… [neighbors] understood we weren’t going to house a hundred people in this house, that there are rules and guidelines.”

Then Poppers received the following email:

I just received notification that there is some sort of halfway house or homeless shelter being proposed on Harmon [Drive], For LGBTQ persons who are at risk of being homeless. We are supposed to make clear if we oppose or support this idea.

We are completely and 100% opposed to this happening in our neighborhood! While I am completely in support of helping any who are in the situation of homelessness, and used to run a shelter myself in Houston, I am absolutely opposed to this happening in our residential neighborhood. We purchased a home in this neighborhood specifically because it was safe for our children. I do not want to live anywhere near a home like this. Since I have personal experience running a home like this, I am aware of the dangers involved, from a resident disclosing the location of the home, to a person tracking them down, to sneaking drugs in, to having a criminal background that’s undisclosed, etc. This is a terrible idea for our neighborhood! If this passes, I will make it my personal mission to get all of our neighbors involved in disclosing the location of this home to anyone that we can and fighting the forward motion of this plan. This is absolutely unacceptable for this area. I’ve talked to all the neighbors within 500 feet of our house, and every single one of them feels the same way. We will all be attending the meeting to voice our opposition, but if this goes through we will disclose the location of this home to anyone who wants to know, and will fight this every step of the way. I cannot even believe that you would be considering opening a home of this nature in a residential neighborhood, that has many many children all around it. Not to mention elderly, Christians who completely oppose that lifestyle, etc. please take this idea and plant it elsewhere. I think it’s a wonderful idea, just not in this neighborhood!

“One of the important ways in which we protect the residents is not disclosing the location of our house,” the executive director said. “We emphasized in a document [to neighbors] that the privacy of the home is very important. So by saying she would make it her personal mission to disclose the location of the home … she was threatening to take away one of the tools we have to ensure the safety and security of our residents.”

Poppers noted that Lucie’s Place intentionally makes their houses “look just like other houses in the neighborhood” to preserve their anonymity. “We don’t put up any signs or anything like that. That’s why that’s a big deal: because it just can’t be widely known where our houses are. It makes us targets for vandalism, for people driving by, or any one of a million horrible things.”

According to the Times, the group has already made an offer on another house in a different neighborhood. You can learn more about the organization, or donate to their cause, by visiting their website.

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