Shelter Continues To Operate; Improvements Made

A homeless shelter, ordered to shut down during the holidays, continues to operate in central El Paso.

The Dame La Mano Crisis Center on Rosa Avenue has a new name and a renewed hope to be able to stay in its current building.

In December, city officials said the shelter was not safe for housing people. Now, two months later, the shelter is still up and running and violating codes.

“If this wasn’t available for me, I’d probably have to go back to Juarez and live with my daughter over there,” said Jeffrey Mann. He said the shelter has been a blessing for him and his daughter, Maria, 5.

The single father said he’s been struggling with his health while trying to find a permanent residence and is grateful for the support at the shelter. “I’ve got lupus and it’s attacking all my organs,” he said. “There are so many people here, they are so nice. They help me with my daughter, they’ll look after her if I can’t take her with me to my appointments.”

“The only thing we’re doing here is helping the people,” said shelter founder David Arellano.

Since receiving the violation notice from the city at the end of the year, changes have been made. Exit signs and fire extinguishers have been hung, bars on the windows have been removed and a new wheelchair accessible bathroom is being built.

“This is all through volunteers, so they’re just doing the work,” Arellano explained while showing ABC-7 the new bathroom which is in the beginning stages of construction.

But now there’s another issue. The city said any kind of construction needs to have a permit. Arellano admits to not having requested one, because he didn’t know. He said he just assumed since volunteers were helping with the work and not contractors, they didn’t need one.

He said he still has hope “the city will let a shelter operate in an M-1 zone and I think it’ll benefit everybody.”

Business owners in the same neighborhood as the shelter said it’s a pretty bad neighborhood — not fit for people to live in.

The owners wanted to stay anonymous, but said there are a lot of transients who jump off the trains and hang out in the empty lots and alleys. They even allege drug use in the neighborhood.

Those ABC-7 spoke with said they do feel bad for those who have to stay at the shelter, but said this just isn’t a safe neighborhood to live in.

City officials said they’ve been looking into the possibility of changing the zoning in that area from manufacturing to commercial, which would allow the shelter to operate legally.

Arellano said until he’s told otherwise, the shelter is there to stay. “We’re here and I’m going to go until the end — whatever it takes.”

City officials said they’re looking into the possibility of taking the shelter to court for the code violations. That could be scheduled for the end of April.

To donate at the Family Crisis Shelter of El Paso you can go to 2900 Rosa Avenue or call 915-231-8744.