York officials order evacuation of shelter
A York woman providing a safe haven for the homeless was operating without a permit and violating building codes.


BY LAUREN WILLIAMS
247-4793

Published November 25, 2004

YORK -- Patti McKenzie was forced Wednesday afternoon to evacuate homeless residents from a shelter she has been running from her home for the past year.

Since moving to the Lightfoot area in September of 2003, McKenzie has been using her own money - $45,000 a year she gets from a trust fund - to pay for the food and shelter of homeless people. Many of the people are referred to her by area nonprofit agencies and churches, she said.

On Tuesday, county officials told her that she had to clear out all of the people staying on her property by 2 p.m. Wednesday, citing building code and zoning violations, she said. She will be fined for the violations, she said. She would not disclose the number of people she had to evacuate.

"Everybody's basically been crying," she said.

Most of her residents are now staying in motels, but many of them will eat Thanksgiving dinner at her house, she said.

Tuesday's order was not McKenzie's first warning from the county. Last year, county officials told her she could not operate a homeless shelter without the proper permits, she said. But after Hurricane Isabel, she could not turn people away who needed shelter, she said.

"They don't realize that there is really no place for people to go," she said.

Marianne Harris, a county building code official, said the building did not meet code standards. Harris described that building, which sits adjacent to the McKenzie home, as a barn previously used for livestock.

But McKenzie said the building, a 1,200-square-foot concrete structure, had been used for retail, not livestock.

McKenzie also needs a permit to have more than five unrelated people living in a single-family home, said Harris.

"She's breaking the rules by using a building that she never obtained permits for or a certificate of occupancy for a change of use," she said.

The county cannot grant McKenzie a building permit until she complies with all the laws, she said.

"We are not debating that she's doing a good deed," said Harris. "But when you do a good deed, you've got to make sure you provide safety for these people."