After four months of heated community debate regarding a 20-man SHARE shelter at the vacant Calvary Lutheran Church, things have been quiet surrounding the shelter in its first month.

"You know what they say, no news is good news," said Pastor Steve Grumm of Ballard's Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church, who own the Calvary Lutheran building at 7002 23rd Ave. N.W.

According to police reports, there were three calls made to police regarding the vacant church in the month leading up to the shelter moving in. Since the June 1 move-in, there have been no calls.

Neighbors in the immediate vicinity said they have had few, if any, negative experiences with the shelter since it moved in.

Virginia Hassinger, who lives across the street from Calvary Lutheran, said she hasn't seen much of the shelter residents, who have been very quiet.

Jane Klausen, a member of the neighborhood task force on the shelter and a neighbor of the church building, said she has noticed a few shelter residents in the area when they are not supposed to be, but it hasn't been much of a problem.

"Other than that it's going well," she said. "I'm a next-door neighbor, and I haven't had any problems."

Grumm said there have been no neighbor complaints that he is aware of.

Before the shelter moved in, there was concern among neighbors because SHARE refused to conduct background warrant and sex-offender checks on the shelter residents.

Neighbors worried about the safety of their families and that the shelter residents would loiter about the neighborhood during the day.

One neighbor said while she hasn't had any problems with the shelter residents so far, the lack of sex offender checks is just one more thing she has to be weary about.

According to SHARE rules, the shelter residents are only allowed in the vicinity of the Calvary Lutheran building while the shelter is open, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and go through a self-screening process.

Grumm said once residents move into the shelter, they become responsible and invisible. He said he doesn't foresee any problems from neighbors with the shelter in the future.

"(The residents) have been there long enough," he said. "The neighbors now have a sense of what they're about."

Right now, the Calvary Lutheran shelter is going through a transition of leadership because the neighborhood didn't fit for some of the old leaders, Grumm said.

Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church is continuing to have monthly meetings with neighborhood representatives, Grumm said. One is scheduled for tonight, July 9.

The shelter will be located in Ballard for one year before moving back to West Seattle.