Pickens County's only homeless shelter has 30 days to find a new home after the Pickens County Zoning Board unanimously upheld a decision denying its request to operate a residential and transitional-lodging facility at 404 Hampton Avenue. The vote, taken Thursday, leaves Pickens County Shelter of Hope without a clear path to relocate before it must vacate its current City View Drive building, putting shelter for more than 50 residents in question.
The zoning board's decision came after a public hearing scheduled for August 27, according to the City of Pickens, which reviewed an appeal of the city zoning administrator's earlier rejection of the shelter's residential use plans. As reported by FOX Carolina News, the shelter's attorney, Miles Coleman, called the outcome extremely disappointing and said he does not think the city has thought much about the consequences of its decision.
Coleman told the station the rezoning denial is legally wrong and confirmed the shelter intends to appeal the zoning board's decision. Per the same report, shelter founders have said the property needs to be rezoned within city limits for it to operate the way it has been operating, combining emergency lodging with the broader services the organization provides.
A Shelter Already Facing Eviction
A Shelter Already Facing Eviction
A Shelter Already Facing Eviction The urgency behind the fight traces back to July 2025, when Pickens County Shelter of Hope was served with a 30-day eviction notice at its original facility, according to the Pickens County Courier. The organization opened in 2020 and has been searching for a new location under founders Tracy and Sunshine Gantt.
The Gantts opened the shelter on April 4, 2020, after receiving a certificate of occupancy that March and spending two years renovating a 6,000-square-foot building, according to CanvasRebel Magazine. It became the county's only homeless shelter, a status it still holds today.
Neighborhood Pushback Preceded the Vote
Local opposition to the Hampton Avenue proposal surfaced weeks earlier, when residents pressed Pickens City Council members about the address at an August meeting. City staff confirmed at that meeting that the original permit for the site had been denied and that shelter operators were appealing the administrative rejection, according to Citizen Portal.
The shelter's proposed services extend beyond emergency beds. Pickens County Shelter of Hope described a partnership with FAVOR Upstate to offer on-site recovery support. The plan called for combining transitional housing with recovery meetings and other community support services under what the shelter described as a Community Resource Hub.
Countywide Demand Outpaces Capacity
The stakes of the zoning fight are tied to the shelter's role in the county. More than 50 residents could lose shelter, according to FOX Carolina News.
The zoning fight concerns the location of the county's only homeless shelter.
People experiencing homelessness can be unsheltered, including people living in abandoned buildings. Families living in doubled-up arrangements may also be missed by official homeless counts.
A Possible Federal Legal Fight
Coleman's insistence that the denial is legally wrong points toward a federal law that has shaped similar disputes elsewhere. Under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, local zoning regulations cannot impose a substantial burden on a faith-based ministry's religious exercise unless the government shows a compelling interest pursued through the least restrictive means, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Justice Department explains RLUIPA's protections for religious exercise in land-use disputes. It remains unresolved whether Shelter of Hope's planned appeal of the zoning board's decision will invoke that federal protection, or how a court fight might play out against the shelter's roughly 30-day relocation window.
For now, the outcome for more than 50 residents who could lose shelter stays uncertain. With the zoning board's denial upheld and an appeal still ahead, it is not yet known where those residents would go if a new location isn't secured before the shelter's current facility closes to them.
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