Tent City 3 is coming to Maple Leaf Lutheran Church

Tent City 3 is coming to the Meadowbrook neighborhood in November after a vote of the Maple Leaf Lutheran Church on Sunday.

Beginning Nov. 27, the church will host the tent city for the homeless in its parking lot for 90 days, said Pastor Julie Blum in an e-mail to our sister site, Wedgwood View. Blum said the measure passed by a super majority of the congregation.

The issue has been hotly debated in the neighborhood, including more than 60 posts in a recent Wedgwood View blog post. Neighbors living near the church, located at 10005 32nd Ave. N.E., cite a host of concerns, including their fear that tent city will bring increased crime. A neighborhood site about those concerns is here.

Blum said the church will host a community meeting to “hear and address concerns” sometime in November. She said the church will inform neighbors when the date is set.

“It is our hope and prayer that those in our neighborhood who have concerns will see what a positive experience this can be,” Blum said in her e-mail, “and that they will use their energies to support the homeless and care for those in need.”

Proponents have praised other tent cities around the region as a humane way to help the homeless. They also say that there is little to no evidence that they result in increased crime for the neighborhoods that host them.