![Attorney Jeff Rowes with the Institute for Justice and Sage Lewis, founder of Homeless Charity [Tim Rudell / WKSU]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ad5635f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/913x514+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F10%2F17%2Fsecond%20chance%20village%20RowesLT%20and%20LewisRT%2010162018%20Rudell%20horizontal.jpg)
Tim Rudell, WKSU
The on Akron鈥檚 east side is suing the city. The move is aimed at keeping the tent village open despite a city-imposed Thanksgiving deadline for shutting it down.
For a year and a half Sage Lewis has been letting 40 or so homeless people live behind a commercial building he owns in the Middlebury neighborhood.
Last month Akron City Council voted down a zoning variance for the camp and ordered it closed. Lewis is suing. He says it鈥檚 his private property and if he wants to let people stay there he can.
尝别飞颈蝉鈥檚&苍产蝉辫; with the Institute for Justice believes Lewis is right. And Rowes says, the city should rethink the whole issue.
鈥淪age is pioneering an innovative model using private property, private money to shelter people for dollars a day,鈥� said Rowes. 鈥淭his is a model that could be replicated across the country. And the city should be working with Sage.鈥�
Rowes says the court action is meant to gain a temporary reprieve from the closing order. He says Lewis still wants to work with the city on long-term solutions.