Dad’s Place in OH Can Again House Homeless Persons

Injunction preventing church’s housing ministry reversed and remanded to trial court.

Dad’s Place, a church in Bryan, Ohio, can again resume its temporary shelter for the homeless as temperatures dip.

An injunction that kept the Ohio church from sheltering its homeless neighbors last winter has been overturned on appeal.

“We are grateful that the court recognized the weighty issues of Constitutional law at hand and ensured that Dad’s Place can continue operating its vital ministry as temperatures begin to drop in Bryan,” First Liberty Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys said. “We hope this decision will also serve as the turning point in this case, and that the City will end its two-year campaign against the Church and Pastor Chris.”

First Liberty, a religious liberty public interest law firm, has represented Dad’s Place and its pastor Chris Avell since 2023 when the dispute began.

The case has involved arguments about whether the city’s fire code regulations impose a burden on the church’s right to free exercise of religion.

In December 2024, Ohio Judge J.T. Stelzer issued an injunction preventing the church from offering its building for use by homeless persons.

Stelzer wrote, “Fire code regulations and the zoning code enforcement procedures do not burden Dad’s Place religious purposes and free exercise. Any burden upon Dad’s Place is incidental to the City of Bryan’s enforcement of the fire code and zoning laws and the safety provisions of those regulations.”

Almost a year later, the Ohio Sixth Appellate District Court reversed the trial court’s decision.

The appellate court accepted the church’s assertions that its ministry to the homeless was based on its religious beliefs to welcome strangers at the church. The court then examined whether the city’s fire regulations impose a significant burden on the church’s exercise of its religious beliefs.

According to the evidence presented by the church, which was not present in previous litigation, Dad’s Place cannot afford to either install a sprinkler system for fire suppression nor open a second location for sheltering homeless persons. The court agreed that these arguments showed that the church’s religious beliefs would be substantially burdened.

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The appellate court also found that the city’s fire code is not generally applicable because it allows the city to exercise broad discretion in granting individualized exemptions from its requirements.

Because the Ohio Constitution grants broader religious protections than the U.S. Constitution, the appellate court agreed that the city’s zoning and fire code regulations must be subject to a strict scrutiny test where the government’s actions must be examined for a compelling interest accomplished by the least restrictive means.

The trial court did not examine the church’s claims based on the Ohio Constitution, so the case must be remanded for that examination, the appellate court said.

“On remand, the trial court is directed to consider appellant’s claim under the Ohio Constitution and to reconsider appellant’s free exercise claim under the U.S. Constitution using a strict scrutiny analysis,” the court wrote.

The appeal of Avell’s criminal conviction for violating the fire code remains pending.

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