Zoning Guide Detroit

Emergency shelter

Type: Residential

Subtype: Group living

Definition

A facility that provides congregate style temporary lodging with or without meals and ancillary services on the premises to primarily the homeless for more than four (4) weeks in any calendar year. An emergency shelter does not provide such lodging to any individual [1] who is required because of age, mental disability or other reason to reside either in a public or private institution or [2] who is imprisoned or otherwise detained pursuant to either federal or state law. An emergency shelter shall be considered a different land use than adult foster care facilities, designated transitional housing, nursing homes, temporary emergency shelters, or warming centers. Emergency shelters are subject to licensing by the Business License Center.

Use regulations

The only Conditional Use general approval criteria that shall apply to emergency shelters are contained in Sec. 61-3-231(6) and Sec. 61-3-231(9) of this Code as well as the following provisions: (1) Capacity limitations. The maximum capacity of an emergency shelter shall be established by the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department in accordance with the terms of the Life Safety Code, but in no case shall that capacity exceed fifty (50) persons, including children, in the R4, R5, and B4 Districts. (2) Other standards: (a) The emergency shelter will in other respects conform to the applicable regulations of the district where it is located; (b) Where the emergency shelter is proposed within or in the immediate vicinity of an area which has a written, approved, and disseminated plan for area development, the establishment of the emergency shelter will not impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of surrounding property for uses permitted in that area. (3) Conditions. The Buildings and Safety Engineering Department may impose reasonable conditions designed to protect natural resources, and the health, safety and welfare, as well as the social and economic well-being, of those who will use the emergency shelter, and the residents and landowners immediately adjacent or across an alley, and the community as a whole; (4) Gateway Radial Thoroughfares. In the B4 District, emergency shelters are not permitted along designated Gateway Radial Thoroughfares. (Ord. No. 11-05, ยง1, 5-28-05)

Conditional in these zones:

Legislative approval in these zones: