Lawyer sues church, homeless day center in Houston

A lawyer who owns an office building located near The Beacon, a day center for homeless people in downtown Houston, filed a suit Monday seeking a permanent injunction to shut down the operation on the ground it’s a “private nuisance.” Lawyer Harry C. Arthur seeks a minimum of $250,000 in damages from defendants Christ Church Cathedral and The Beacon to compensate him for the loss of rentals in his building and the loss of its market value. Arthur alleges The Beacon, which is operated by Cathedral Health & Outreach Ministries, has created a “health hazard” in the area. “The persons attracted by the free meals, free laundry and other services, urinate, defecate and drop trash in the street, sidewalks, doorways and other private property areas of the neighbors,” Arthur alleges in the petition filed in state district court in Harris County. Arthur alleges that on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, when The Beacon is closed, “things are once again quiet and pleasant” in the area. However, he alleges, from Thursday nights through Monday nights, “hundreds of disheveled individuals sleep and hang out on the streets and sidewalks” near The Beacon. Arthur’s building, The Marine Building, is located diagonally across an intersection from The Beacon. “The individuals sing, play music, dance, fight, share drugs and other undesirable activities,” Arthur alleges in the petition, noting that individuals sleep on the sidewalks because The Beacon is closed at night.  He also alleges the Beacon “encouraged others with probably good intentions to bus indigent people to The Beacon so that they may also be fed and cared for.” Arthur, of Law Offices of Harry C. Arthur, did not immediately return a telephone message left at his office. Carol Barnwell, director of communication for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, declines comment and refers questions to Dean Joe Reynolds of Christ Church Cathedral. Neither Reynolds nor Tracy Burnett, executive director of The Beacon, immediately returned a call seeking comment.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

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