Mercy Culture pulls plans for trafficking victims shelter after neighborhood opposition
.jpg "A rendering of Mercy Culture church’s proposed shelter for victims of human trafficking in Oakhurst. Residents voted overwhelmingly to oppose the project.")
Mercy Culture church shelved plans for a proposed center to house human trafficking victims after overwhelming opposition from its neighbors over the proposed location.
In a vote Saturday by the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association, 95% said they opposed the project. Mercy Culture was scheduled to go before the Fort Worth zoning commission on Wednesday, but pulled the project last week.
The planned shelter would have housed 100 victims for one to three years, depending on their needs, according to documents submitted to the zoning commission.
Rick Herring, moderator for the nearby Riverside Alliance, wrote in an email that residents weren’t opposed to the project’s mission. The main opposition was to its location.
The proposed shelter would have been at Mercy Culture’s campus at 1701 Oakhurst Scenic Drive, which is a residential neighborhood located near Oakhurst Elementary, Riverside Middle School, and Carter-Riverside High School.
Residents expressed their skepticism at an April 1 neighborhood meeting organized by Mercy Culture. Several reported not having their questions answered after they’d been submitted on note cards at the beginning of the meeting.
This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 5:18 PM.
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