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Ministry Needs A Prayer

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Susan Mays is behind in mortgage payments and could face fines from the city if repairs aren't made to the shelter by March 4.

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By KATHY STEELE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 31, 2008

SULPHUR SPRINGS - Susan Mays bought a house more than two years ago and made it a homeless shelter for women and children, relying on faith that it would work out.

Her faith is being tested as she tries to hold off foreclosure almost five months after losing her job and the income that helped support the Amen Outreach Ministry Shelter for Women and Children.

"She personally has taken on quite a liability," said Rayme Nuckles, chief executive officer of the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County. He referred Mays to a couple of foundations, but she has limited options, he said.

"It's hard for smaller shelters to get their name out there," Nuckles said.

Mays is more than $8,000 behind in mortgage payments, records show. And she could face fines from the city if repairs aren't made to the shelter by March 4, when a code enforcement hearing is scheduled. Cited violations include damaged walls, broken windows, inadequate weather stripping, mold and mildew, and termite damage.

Some repairs have been completed but Mays said, "It's more than we can handle."

She said she has lined up a construction company in January that will do some work - mostly plumbing repairs - free.

Hillsborough Kids and Mental Health Care are among the agencies that refer clients to Amen Outreach. On occasion Metropolitan Ministries refers its overflow clients from its Uplift-U program to the county's Homeless Recovery program which then places some with Amen Outreach.

Recently Tanya Mann, 40, moved in for a brief stay with her four-month old son, MaKai Anthony-Mann. A family dispute left her homeless, said Mann who is hoping to find a catering job or possibly enrollment in a job training course.

"Getting over the guilt of being in this position is overwhelming," she said.

Amen Outreach houses more than 100 clients annually for periods of 60 to 90 days, Mays said.

Mays was born homeless. At three days old, she was taken in by a Tampa minister and his wife as their foster child. That is why, Mays said, "I've always had a desire to help people."

She began by taking in her children's friends who didn't have a place to stay. She volunteered with a homeless shelter and about five years ago became a minister.

Then she started looking at properties to open a shelter. She found a house where illegal drugs reportedly had been sold in Sulphur Springs. "It was in terrible, terrible condition but I saw a vision here," Mays said.

Her friends weren't so sure. "I was afraid to get out of the car," said Thelberta Daniels who now is the shelter's on-site assistant director.

The house nearly was buried under weeds and overgrowth that had taken over the double lot on Sitka Street. With volunteers and friends, Mays cleared the yard and cleaned up the house.

She struggled to keep the shelter afloat relying largely on her salary as an insurance adjuster to pay light and water bills and the mortgage payments. In August, Mays said, she lost her job.

She estimates she has filled out 100 job applications. Her unemployment so far has been enough to pay her own household bills but with nothing left for the shelter.

Records show she paid about $152,000 for the house and owes about $137,000.

Mays said a fundraiser at the Children's Board is in the works for February.

She has been in contact with the city, which is recipient of about $13.6 million for HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Much of the money will go to buy foreclosed properties in Sulphur Springs and West Tampa that the city plans to rehabilitate for rentals or re-sale to first-time home buyers.

But Amen Outreach, which is in initial stages of foreclosure, does not meet the criteria, said Sharon West, the city's housing director. West has discussed the situation with Mays and even adopted a shelter family for Christmas.

She plans to meet again with Mays. "We'll try to work with her," West said.

Mays hopes to convince her lender to hold off on foreclosure or restructure the loan. She is putting financial data together for Plantation-based attorney David Stern, who represents Homecomings Financial.

"Our main motto is "hope for the homeless." Sometimes you go through a test to be a testimony, "Mays said. "I see no other way."

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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