At Columbia City Council’s work session on Wednesday, May 26, the “optimists” and the “realists” showed in full, and many took the opportunity to speak.

The optimists were among members of the Midlands Housing Alliance board of directors and their supporters. They call their proposed homeless shelter on the southwest corner of Main Street and Elmwood Avenue a “transition center,” leaning on the hope the chronic homeless can experience self–improvement and enter the productive mainstream of American society having spent time in the downtown transition center in Columbia, South Carolina.

The realists were the neighboring property owners and church goers who have already experienced years among the visitors to the Salvation Army compound, also at the southwest corner of Main Street and Elmwood Avenue. After years of panhandling on the sidewalks, reportedly bathing in the men’s room at McDonald’s and other fast food places, and making public toilets out of the landscaping around the local churchyards, the homeless are not wanted by the realists.

The transition center is designed to handle 214 homeless people at a time, leaving another thousand or so still on the streets, according to neighborhood activists and speakers. The fears include a destination–quality transition center that must turn down droves of visitors, putting the homeless back on the sidewalk in a concentrated population at the corner of Main and Elmwood.

But, somehow, the homeless are indeed wanted by the board members at the Midlands Housing Alliance and their supporters. The board is chaired by Cathy Novinger, former senior vice–president at SCANA.

The optimists, both on the MHA board and its supporters present at the city council presentation Wednesday, include many real estate investors, people who know what a homeless shelter or a transition center can do anywhere near a real estate investment.

The realists, mostly nearby homeowners, came forward to share questions about what happens when the city transition center is up and running. What kind of cost overruns can be expected? Columbia City council is being asked to help fund the operation of the transition center at Main and Elmwood while it continues to carry the costs of its winter emergency shelter on Calhoun Street closer to the river, near CanalSide, the delayed development by the Charleston–based Beach Company.

The Beach Company objected when the city suggested it might locate the transition center next to its winter shelter, and the Midlands Housing Alliance with its funding by the Knight Foundation, all in favor of the Salvation Army site at the corner of Main and Elmwood.

The operating budget for the transition center is projected for its second year, its first full year, at $2.6 million, and out of that the city is being asked to contribute $250,000.

Council member Rickenmann sees contextual conflict and more money added to the city’s contribution. The area security around the boundaries of the transition center must be beefed up, he said, adding maybe another $250,000. The transition center plans on taking in its 214 homeless patrons up to 5 p.m. every day.

Rickenmann asked, “What happens after 5:00 pm?”