A Collin County nonprofit says its plan to help homeless teens in Frisco has hit a snag.
City House works to curb young adult homelessness in Collin County, operating in Plano for 26 years.
“When you think about Frisco and these affluent areas, you don’t think of homelessness. But it does exist,” said Rob Scichili, director of marketing and communications for City House. “What we are is a normal place with normal kids that blend into the neighborhood, and they won’t notice a difference.”
Using grant money and volunteer efforts, City House purchased and renovated a five-bedroom home in Frisco in the Plantation Resort neighborhood.
The plan was to expand efforts to help homeless Frisco teens through a transitional living program, which is voluntary and based on applications for young people ages 18-22.
The young adults are required to attend school or work while in the program, which offers counseling and life skills resources.
“It is giving these kids a place to stay and helping learn how to stand on their own two feet,” Scichili said, noting that the candidates are vetted and are supervised 24 hours a day by City House staff.
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However, the nonprofit has not moved the young women who’ve qualified for help into the property, since legal action was taken by the Plantation Resort 2 HOA.
The HOA’s suit claims its rules only allow for “single-family residential purposes”, also citing worries about property values.
City House’s lawyer, Monica Velazquez, tells NBC 5 she believes the actual language of the HOA rules involves “uses related to the use by a single family,” which City House believes gives it the proper legal right to offer its program in the neighborhood.
She adds because it is a transitional living program, the home is not classified as a “group home” by the state.
There was a hearing scheduled in the case on Tuesday, but, according to Velazquez, both sides are now working on a compromise to keep the matter out of court.
