DeKalb’s homeless shelter found a new location, but some neighborhood residents oppose the shelter’s relocation.

Public Action to Deliver Shelter closed April 20. PADS lost its home at the First United Methodist Church parsonage, 311 N. Fourth St., when the church hired a new pastor, said Paul Johnson, PADS’ treasurer.

PADS wants to rent a vacant building at 316 N. Sixth St., the former home of DeKalb Cleaners, Johnson said.

“The neighborhood is all against it and I am also,” said Jim Yeske, 324 N. Sixth St., the former owner of DeKalb Cleaners. “Those people will come in there and tear up stuff,” he said.

DeKalb Police Lt. Charles Beierlotzer said the city never had a problem with PADS at its old location.

“We work with the shelter and offer that as another solution if someone needs shelter in DeKalb,” Beierlotzer said.

Beierlotzer’s endorsement of the shelter did not appease Yeske. “Baloney. We don’t need those kinds of people around here,” Yeske said.

More than half of PADS‘ guests are women and children and not to be feared, Johnson said.

“If that’s the case, why can’t the abused women’s shelter help them?” said Ann Ulery, 614 Pine St.

Ulery said the shelter would decrease the neighborhood’s property values. “Can you imagine what kind of people come into these places who don’t have any place to stay?” she said.

Evelyn Priess, 624 Pine St., could not say specifically why she opposed the shelter. “I just don’t think it’s right,” she said.

Before PADS moves into the building they must secure a special use permit for multi-family zoning from the city, planning director Jim Hogue said. The plan commission will vote on the issue July 25, he said.

“I think it’s a good site,” he said.

Building and Community Services Director Bill Nicklas said he supports PADS’ move to Sixth Street. PADS has been looking for a new location for two years and this is the best place the group has found, he said.