Fort Worth approves Mercy Culture’s human trafficking victim shelter after heated debate
A divided Fort Worth City Council voted 6-4 to approve a site plan adjustment for Mercy Culture Church’s proposed human trafficking victim shelter.
Mayor Mattie Parker was joined by council members Alan Blaylock, Michael Crain, Macy Hill, Charlie Lauersdorf and Mayor Pro Tem Gyna Bivens in voting to support the project on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Council member Jeanette Martinez, whose district includes the proposed 100-bed shelter at 1701 Oakhurst Scenic Drive, was joined by council members Elizabeth Beck, Carlos Flores, and Chris Nettles in opposition.
Council member Jared Williams was absent for the vote.
The decision came after more than two hours of testimony during which church members and residents from the nearby Oakhurst Neighborhood traded barbs and accusations while debating the merits of the project.
Supporters argued it will give victims of human trafficking a place to rebuild their lives, while opponents cited issues with traffic, Mercy Culture’s rhetoric, and the center’s location next to a single family neighborhood.
Heather Schott, Mercy Culture’s lead pastor and director of its Justice Reform ministry, said the shelter was needed to help restore some of the most vulnerable members of society.
She cited statistics showing that a disproportionate number of federal cases involving human trafficking occur in the U.S. District Court of North Texas.
She argued the main reason victims of human trafficking return to their traffickers is a lack of places to go.
People stop trying to get free after losing hope, she said.
Erika Cristantielli, a Mercy Culture parishioner and human trafficking survivor, talked about the importance of having a community.
After finding community at Mercy Culture, Cristantielli said she now has a job, a car, and can pay her own bills.
She asked the council to approve the shelter so other victims can get a similar opportunity.
Jaco Booyens, a pastor and activist fighting human trafficking, talked about his sister’s experience as a victim of human trafficking.
He said it took her 18 years to recover from her experience, and noted the importance of having robust support to help her recovery.
Booyens called the Justice Residences a home where victims like his sister would get the care they needed.
“You’ve got an army saying, we want to help you Fort Worth,” Booyens said while advocating for the city to approve the project.
Supporters of Mercy Culture Church accused Oakhurst Neighborhood Association members of lying about the project.
Pastor Les Cody noted that at a recent meeting between the church and Oakhurst residents it was clear that nothing could be done to appease the neighborhood.
Oakhurst residents emphasized their opposition had nothing to do with human trafficking.
They argued the proposed 100-bed shelter would make existing issues around parking and traffic worse, while also citing security concerns about locating the shelter so close to a single family neighborhood.
Several also refuted claims that Mercy Culture had meaningfully engaged with the neighborhood.
Blaine Brewer, who represented a group of residents from Bluebird Avenue in Oakhurst, referenced a May 2023 sermon by Mercy Culture Co-Lead Pastor Landon Schott who called those opposed to the shelter a, “insane demonic resistance,” referring to some residents as demons and warlocks.
None of the residents are demons and warlocks, Brewer said.
“One of my neighbors is kind of unfriendly, but she’s just grumpy,” he said.
Mercy Culture publicizing the location of the shelter also drew concerns from several residents. They argued it would attract traffickers looking to to reclaim victims.
Oakhurst residents enjoy being outside and interacting with their neighbors, said Primrose Avenue resident Maggie Maxtin.
If the shelter is built it will jeopardize that feeling of safety, she said.
Maxtin also referenced the acrimonious relationship between the church and the neighborhood.
She said this raised serious doubts about Mercy Culture’s qualifications to run the shelter.
While residents in the Oakhurst neighborhood that borders the proposed shelter have reasonable concerns about density and the project’s impact, federal and state laws governing religious liberty are clear, Mayor Mattie Parker said.
“Government at any level has no place telling any religious institution how they are permitted to live out their beliefs,” she said.
Parker added that were the city to oppose the zoning change, Mercy Culture would most likely win a prolonged litigation.
She also acknowledged the ill will between residents and the church over the years-long disagreement about the project.
Parker called on Mercy Culture to make amends with the neighborhood and work to address concerns about safety.
“It is my sense that council votes are influenced by politics, and that is truly sad and disappointing,” Martinez said in explaining her decision to oppose the project.
She sided with residents from the Oakhurst Neighborhood, saying their concerns about the proposed shelter were valid before moving to deny the zoning case.
Martinez’s motion failed before the council voted on a separate motion to approve the project.
“I am disappointed in the new precedent that was set last night, one that gives way to bullying, fear and threats of legal retribution,” Martinez said in a Dec. 11 text message to the Star-Telegram.
She pledged to keep following the development and urged Mercy Culture to keep its commitments to engage with its neighbors in Oakhurst.
When will it be built?
Mercy Culture plans to begin construction as soon as possible, Heather Schott said after the council meeting.
Mercy Culture’s April 2024 filing with a state licensing agency estimated the project will cost $13.2 million to build.
Schott said the church had raised the necessary funds, and was ready to begin construction.
The Justice Reform had roughly $712,000 in assets at the end of 2022, according to publicly available nonprofit tax documents. Those assets could have grown in 2023, however, the Justice Reform’s 2023 tax documents were not listed on an Internal Revenue Service website.
The Justice Reform hosts an annual golf tournament and running event to raise money to build the shelter.
The church also has a page on its website where supporters can donate to support the construction.
The two-story building would be on the northern edge of the church’s campus at 1701 Oakhurst Scenic Drive. Plans show the building including a dining hall, exercise room, offices, gathering spaces and two stories of residential sleeping rooms with room for 107 beds and 16 staff members, according to records obtained by the Star-Telegram through an open records request.
The problem of human trafficking
Human trafficking is when anyone someone uses force, fraud or coercion to extract labor or some other service from a person against their will.
Statistics on human trafficking are highly under reported, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth police department said in an email to the Star-Telegram
“It’s a hidden crime where almost all the victims do not see themselves as victims and thus we neither have an outcry nor is it easily recognizable to the public,” they said.
There have been 262 federal prosecutions of human trafficking in Texas since the turn of the century with 95 being prosecuted in the U.S. District Court of North Texas, according to data from the Human Trafficking Institute. That distirct covers most of the Metroplex with the exception of Denton, Collin, Cooke, Grayson, and Fanin counties.
The institute estimates those cases involved 936 victims, however, that may be an under count because of limits on the amount of publicly available data on victims.
The Fort Worth police department has opened 75 cases so far in 2024, the spokesperson said. The department has closed 10 of those cases resulting in the arrest of multiple people, they said.
While there is a need for more shelter, it doesn’t need to be a 100-bed capacity, said Jeanne Allert, founder and executive director of the Institute for Shelter Care, a nonprofit that provides resources to organizations combating human trafficking.
The greatest need is for emergency shelters that have a capacity around one to six victims that can provide the unique and personalized care each victim needs, she said.
The institute put out a report in February 2022 trying to ascertain the optimal number of beds for a trafficking victim shelter. While it didn’t come up with a conclusive number, it did find that larger capacity shelters may result in diminished care from not having the correct ratio of staff to victims.
“It‘s not like we figured out what a broken leg is like, and everybody kind of gets their broken leg attended to the same way,” Allert said, adding that victims require highly individualized care to address what they need emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Asked after the meeting how Mercy Culture will control staffing ratios to make sure victims get quality care, Schott said she was more concerned about the lack of available shelter beds for trafficking victims.
“100 isn’t enough. We need to build more,” she said.
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 12:42 AM.
.jpg)