FORT WORTH, Texas — The Oakhurst Neighborhood Association voted unanimously Thursday night to continue their opposition to a 100-bed shelter for survivors of human trafficking the Mercy Culture church plans to build near their Fort Worth homes.
Neighbors have been opposed to the project since the church first proposed it two years ago. The vote Thursday was 99-0, the president of the neighborhood association said.
Mercy Culture calls the property its Justice Residences and boasts it will be the largest facility of its kind in the country. It could house women for one to three years "depending on their needs for healing and restoration where they will be equipped to be sent out as reformers into the trade they feel called to," according to its website.
The church said it will add parking spaces, 24/7 security and a fence around the property to the plan in an attempt to quell neighbor's concerns, but it did not appear to work.
"It's scary to me," said Oakhurst Neighborhood Association Vice President Karthyn Omarkhail. "It's almost in my backyard. I mean it's literally right behind my house."
She said she is concerned the shelter would change the atmosphere of her neighborhood -- and worries about parking, traffic, the size of the shelter and whether it could draw traffickers to the area in search of their former victims.
The neighborhood opposition has drawn ire from church leaders Heather and Landon Schott, who have criticized the neighbors from the pulpit.
"We've gotten just insane, demonic resistance from the people that live in that neighborhood," Landon Schott said in May 2023.
More recently, Heather Schott has called the neighbors "agitators" who "hate Christian values," as the church urged its members to contact Fort Worth city officials to lobby them on behalf of the shelter zoning request.
"What kind of people will fight against a group that is trying to heal, trying to restore, trying to redeem the most abused women in our society?" she asked in an October sermon.
The church did not respond to WFAA's requests for comment.
The latest plans are due to be voted upon by city zoning commissioners next month -- and Assistant City Manager Dana Burghdoff told neighbors Thursday the shelter is likely allowed because of a unique aspect of the church's existing zoning.
The primary use of the Mercy Culture property is "for all church activities" -- which Burghdoff said would likely include the shelter proposed.
Still, the neighbors said they plan to voice their opposition at the November 13 Zoning Commission hearing and plan to hire a lawyer to make their own case against the shelter. If it is approved in November, the Fort Worth City Council will have the final say at a December meeting.