One of the region’s best known charities could soon be required to pay taxes on a home it owns in DeKalb County after assessors declared the land is not a church after all.
Removing the religious exemption for Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless could mean at least a $2,000 tax bill for the Atlanta group best known for feeding thousands at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Martin Luther King Day and Easter.
Those good works are not the issue. The problem is the charity, named after the late civil-rights leader Hosea Williams and run by his daughter Elizabeth Omilami, hasn’t paid county property taxes on an East Lake Drive home valued at nearly $550,000 since at least 2006 because it claims to be a church.
“Our focus is only on the East Lake property, not whether Hosea does great things,” said DeKalb Chief Appraiser Calvin Hicks. “For our purposes, the records showing that property as a religious site are incorrect.”
In a prepared statement Tuesday night, Omilami said the charity had not received any notice that DeKalb was revoking the property’s exemption, noting the group had held that exemption for four years.
“With the blessing of DeKalb County, we hope to maintain our exemption, if not as a church, then as a charitable organization 100 percent devoted to our charitable mission,” Omilami said in the statement.
Omilami noted that its status as a tax-exempt nonprofit is not being threatened.
County records list Martin Luther King Jr. Peoples Church of Love as owner of the property, which was once Williams’ home and is now Feed the Hungry's headquarters.
Williams incorporated the church in 1976, according to state records that show it was a Baptist place of worship.
At some point, though, the church and the charity appear to have become the same entity. Hosea Feed The Hungry was incorporated in 1996 but the Georgia Secretary of State’s office dissolved the charity in 2008 for not filing its annual registration. Secretary of state Brian Kemp said it was unclear Tuesday night what the charity's registration requirements were.
The charity attempted to reserve its name again earlier this year, but the secretary of state's office rejected the request. The records on the rejection were not available Tuesday.
Hosea Feed The Hungry also does not have its own federal tax-exempt status, meaning it is not a listed federal charity.
Instead, IRS records show that the Feed The Hungry programs are operated by a charity -- not a church -- known as the MLK Poor People’s Church of Love, doing business as Hosea Feed The Hungry.
According to a federal tax form filed for the year that ended in June 2010, the group took in $2.3 million last year, spending $2 million on holiday dinners, a food bank, salaries and other programs.
Omilami in the statement that last year, Hosea Feed the Hungry’s on-going programming “provided over 80,000 individuals with food, clothing, toiletries, transportation and other supplies and prevented homelessness through rent and utility assistance for nearly 300 families.
The federal tax form also lists the East Lake property as a Hosea’s headquarters and home to civil rights era memorabilia.
“The home is also available to the general community to rent for community and family events, encouraging ongoing family traditions, cultural development and intergenerational relationships,” the federal tax forms state.
That charity does not list any religious activities, according to a federal tax form filed for the year that ended in June 2010. The group took in $2.3 million last year, spending $2 million on holiday dinners, a food bank, salaries and other programs.
The charity did not confirm any religious use during a routine property audit that DeKalb conducted earlier this year. That is what prompted a review and the county Board of Assessors to remove the religious exemption on Aug. 8.
Hosea has until mid-September to challenge that decision. DeKalb's Hicks said the charity also may qualify for an exemption as a non-profit, if it can provide documentation that clears up ownership and activities at the East Lake home.
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