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Updates to section: Proposed UM licensed childcare shelters
editHouston facility for young children, pregnant girls, and teenage mothers and subsequent lawsuit against City of Houston—Southwest Key leased a 53,600-square-foot building formerly occupied by the non-profit Star of Hope east of downtown Houston, Texas. The building formerly served as a shelter for homeless families and then, briefly, for those displaced by Hurricane Harvey.[1] Southwest Key applied to use the facility as an immigrant children's shelter for up to 200 immigrant youth "from age 0 to 17."[8] Though Southwest Key initially was granted a certificate of occupancy by the city of Houston as a residential “dormitory/shelter,” the city restarted the permit process after publicity over ICE’s new child separation policy spread and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner claimed they city had received incomplete information and that Southwest Key should have declared the building use as “institutional.”[2]
In September of 2018, Southwest Key filed a federal lawsuit claiming the city was manipulating its permitting procedure and, “among other actions: invalidating previously issued permits without following due process requirements; unjustifiably refusing to conduct necessary inspections or issue necessary permits; manipulating the land use and permitting process; interfering with the issuance of necessary permits by state agencies; conducting harassing inspections of other Southwest Key shelter facilities; and generally engaging in a campaign of obstruction to prevent Southwest Key from providing any housing to unaccompanied children in Houston.”[3] [4]
On February 14, 2019, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office published a press release stating that Southwest Key revised its city permit application to solely shelter children who are 16 and 17 years old and that, by restricting minors to 16 and 17 year-olds, Southwest Key is entitled to operate the shelter under a residential license. [5][6][7]
- ^ Morris, Mike. "Nonprofit seeking to open Houston facility for migrant kids sues city over permits".
- ^ Kriel, Lomi. "Immigrant children's shelter considered for downtown Houston".
- ^ Fox, Keaton. "Mayor rejects settlement offer from immigrant child facility".
- ^ Pulsinelli, Olivia. "Southwest Key sues city of Houston over facility for immigrant children".
- ^ Scherer, Jasper. "Southwest Key scales down downtown migrant shelter plan to just house 16-, 17-year-olds".
- ^ Pulsinelli, Olivia. "City of Houston expected to approve Southwest Key shelter after changes".
- ^ "Non-profit corporation's proposal to house young immigrants downtown no longer includes children under 16".
to add
editSouthwest Key also holds several private subsidiaries, including Southwest Key Enterprises, Inc which runs many businesses and nursing homes, per D&BHoovers and the 990s. Looking for additional sources to add this. -- phoebe / (talk to me) 15:44, 14 December 2019 (UTC)