Texas AG sues church homeless ministry, says it endangers elementary school
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a complaint against a church-affiliated homeless ministry, alleging it creates a dangerous environment for a neighborhood that houses an elementary school.
Paxton filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Travis County against the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center of Austin in response to complaints from several local residents, school staff and the parents of students enrolled at Joslin Elementary School.
"In South Austin, a once peaceful neighborhood has been transformed by homeless drug addicts, convicted criminals, and registered sex offenders," stated the complaint.
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"These people do drugs in sight of children, publicly fornicate next to an elementary school, menace residents with machetes, urinate and defecate on public grounds, and generally terrorize the surrounding community."
The Sunrise facility has become a "magnet" for "rampant crimes" in the area committed by homeless individuals, including near the local elementary school, the complaint alleges.
The attorney general's office found that in the past several years, people who received services from Sunrise "have repeatedly broken into the school or otherwise forced the school to enter into 'lockdown' due to violent behavior."
According to Paxton's office, the city of Austin has contributed more than $1 million taxpayer dollars to Sunrise.
The complaint is seeking injunctive relief from the court to stop Sunrise from operating, believing that the nonprofit is enabling various disorderly conduct in the neighborhood.
"Drug activity and criminal behavior facilitated by this organization have hijacked an entire neighborhood," said Paxton in a statement released Tuesday.
"By operating a taxpayer-funded drug paraphernalia giveaway next to an elementary school, this organization is threatening students' health and safety and unjustly worsening daily life for every single resident of the neighborhood. We will shut this unlawful nuisance behavior down."
Mark Hilbelink, executive director of Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, said in a statement that the ministry will continue despite the legal pressure.
"It is regrettable that the Attorney General Paxton took this route, especially during the week of Thanksgiving, but Sunrise intends to keep offering services to people in our community who need them," said Hilbelink.
"We are committed to being a good neighbor. We will continue to work, every day, to support Joslin Elementary School, our neighborhood, and our entire community."
The nonprofit is a ministry of Sunrise Community Church, which calls itself the "Weirdest Little Church in Texas." The congregation is part of the Reformed Church in America and City Classis.
According to its website, the facility is "the largest provider of homeless services in Travis County" and has operated since 2015. It provides "housing for people experiencing homelessness through low-barrier access to wraparound services by providing innovative, trauma-informed, and person-centered programming that engages our communities and leads system-wide transformation."
"We originate from the Christian faith and believe that our community is best served when diversity and inclusion are embedded in everything we do," states the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center website.
"We create an environment that brings together unique perspectives, removes obstacles for marginalized populations most disproportionately harmed by homelessness to attain their personal goals, and actively work towards dismantling the systems that perpetuate inequity in our community."
