Gastonia pastor threatened with fine for aiding homeless during freezing temperatures
GASTONIA, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A Gastonia pastor is once again facing a possible fine from the city for helping the homeless population. Faith, Hope and Love Ministries has already been fined $100,000 for using the property as a homeless shelter.
This time around the pastor says he’s not breaking any rules because people aren’t spending the night and there are no beds on the property.
RELATED: Gastonia church facing $100,000+ in fines reaches agreement with city
Linda Fralick has experienced homelessness for 15 years on and off. In this week’s frigid conditions, she says there aren’t many places to go in Gastonia.
“I got a little sleeping bag to get into sometime and I stay here and yonder,” she said. “You know, different places. But it’s not easy. It ain’t no where you can go unless you go out of town.”
She can always count on Faith, Hope and Love to open its doors each day where volunteers feed people and let them warm up inside the church in the daytime.
“In my heart, I always want a warm place to lay my head and something to eat. I don’t know, that’s not much,” Fralick said.
Pastor Moses Colbert and Monica Colbert have been helping the homeless population since the church opened 20 years ago. In recent years, they’ve has been hit with $100,000 in fines for city code violations.
The church was forced to clear out a homeless encampment in 2023. Pastor Colbert received a letter threatening more fines if he opens an emergency shelter after the Fire Marshal’s Office claims he received several complaints about Colbert “planning” to open his doors.
“When I got the letter, my mind went back to when they sued me back in in September, and I’m thinking they’re building the case so they can sue me again,” he said. “That’s the part that scared me. You know, I got sued for having 200 people on the property back then.”
Arctic front moves in on Friday bringing freezing temps, rain and snow to NC
The letter from the Gastonia Fire Marshal said the pastor needs to install a manual fire alarm, hire an architect to redo the property and get it rezoned for residential.
The church is surrounded by other homes, and Moses has similar plans for his property.
“What we’re going to do is we want to build 200 units on this property and house the people here,” Moses said. “What we want to do is we want to take 100 units for the homeless here in Gastonia and we want to take the other 100 for other counties in North Carolina.”
The Fire Marshal was not available for an interview with Queen City News on Wednesday, nor did he return calls or emails for comment. A city spokeswoman sent QC News a statement saying in part:
“The Gastonia Fire Marshal has spoken with Pastor Moses via phone [Wednesday] morning and informed him that he can allow persons in the church for activities, but cannot bring beds or cots into the facility to house occupants inside of the church, because the requirements in section 319 are not met.
As an alternative, the city said the Salvation Army Center of Hope in Gastonia offers a cold weather shelter to those who are unhoused. The city and county have partnered to provide funds for this cold weather shelter and beds are available.
The Director of the Salvation Army says the shelter can house a maximum of 64 people overnight and right now there are four beds available for men only.
Fralick hopes the Colberts can keep their daytime operation going to keep helping people in need.
“Being homeless like this is no picnic. It’s sad for anybody,” Fralick said.
Colbert is also brainstorming how he can host service on nights when it’s freezing so people can come inside his building. If you’d like to help he says you can make monetary donations or donate items people need like food and hygiene products.
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