COMPTON : Homeless Shelter Shut Over Permit Dispute
Compton city officials shut down a 175-bed homeless shelter and church Monday after a three-month dispute over a city permit.
Pastor Charles Patrick vowed to keep the facility open, offering Bible study and a few beds in a tent just steps from the closed Sunago Christian Fellowship Church.
The shelter, Fragment House, had a 60-day contract with the county to provide cold-weather housing but never completed the paperwork needed for a city license, city officials said. The shelter provides the only emergency housing in Compton. The city has two shelters for women and children. About 85 people moved their belongings out of the shelter Monday.
Patrick opened Fragment House without a permit at 1707 Compton Blvd. in December. He has neither paid a $1,200 processing fee nor completed paperwork, officials said. The fee was donated to the church Friday, but Patrick’s application will take six to eight weeks to process, officials said.
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