DARLINGTON, SC (WBTW) – Darlington Police confirm a local homeless shelter has been shut down because of numerous code violations and on Thursday officers charged one employee with trespassing after they failed to leave the property.
According to Chief Danny Watson, police cited Lisa Allen for trespassing Thursday afternoon at Sheppards Mission House homeless shelter for refusing to vacate the building after officers shut the operation down Tuesday.
The project is run by Flowers Ministries, a Charlotte-based group with similar housing facilities in several states and also South Carolina.
Police say that in July they were told a homeless shelter had opened on Law Street and when they contacted the people running the shelter, officers discovered they did not have a certificate of occupancy and the building did not meet code standards.
Because of the extreme heat, officers allowed the residents to stay at the shelter until the following week.
On Aug. 1, the fire marshal gave the property owners specific direction as to how they could comply with the regulations to make the building safe for occupancy. Officers left a list at the property and asked that the items be resolved as soon as possible.
On Aug. 5, officers came back to check on the building’s status and found a deficiency with the fire detection system and gave the proprietor of the building a fixed time period to fix the issue.
Tuesday, the fire marshal, an officer, and a state building inspector checked on the property and determined several issues involving potentially dangerous situations had not been fixed. Issues included emergency lighting not operational, exposed outlets, exposed fixtures and malfunctioning fire safety doors. Officials say the building could remain open, but until all items were resolved, people are not allowed to sleep inside the property as a matter of life safety.
The building is currently listed as a church.
