Greene moves to aid those who are homeless
WAYNESBURG – The problem of homelessness in Greene County is real, officials say, no matter how badly people may want to believe otherwise. To address the need for an emergency shelter, county grant writer Kim Moninger recently submitted a grant to the state Department of Community and Economic Development to establish a program within the county.
According to Moninger, that program would provide people who need more than a three- or four-night stay a chance to stabilize their lives.
Moninger said that, in compiling data for the grant, she learned that officials from Community Action Southwest see about 10 homeless people a month in Greene County, not a large number when compared to metropolitan areas, but still more than people may realize.
“We know that there is no shelter for people to stay until they get help, but there are income requirements for other programs through Community Action Southwest or through HUD,” she said. “We want to make this program as free of constraints as possible.”
Frank Couch, a veterans employment counselor for the TeamPA Career Link office in Waynesburg, said that when he interviews job applicants, one of their barriers to employment is homelessness.
“Some people who see us are on their last legs. They have been evicted or thrown out of the place they were staying,” he said. “We need to know where to go to get people off the streets and then get them a job.”
He said many people are able to get temporary placements through CAS or HUD, but more time is needed to give those living on the street a chance to get their lives back in order.”
Sister Mary Jane Reisdorf, who operates Gather Inn in Waynesburg, said she and Sister Janet Kramer attempted to operate a homeless shelter at their facility over the past four years but have been unable to receive funding for their effort. In the past two years, she said, at least 25 people have come to her location for emergency placement and have had to be referred elsewhere.
“Something needs to be done to provide a stable living space for people of low incomes,” Reisdorf said.
Reisdorf and Kramer are still operating Gather Inn, only changing from a homeless shelter to providing domiciliary care, or assisted living, for four residents.
Ann Bargerstock, county director of planning and development, said the shelter that the county plans to establish would not be a safe house for abused women and children, nor would it be a halfway house for recovering addicts or recently released convicts.
She said the state already informally has notified the county that its request has been approved, but the amount of funding will not be known until May, at the earliest.
She said input from the community is important to tailor a program that adequately will meet the needs of people in the county.
“This will be a housing program for the people we see but people aren’t prepared to admit exist in Greene County,” Bargerstock said. “We know they are here, we know this is real, and this will hopefully fill one gap in housing in the county.”
She said housing is an important part of the county’s comprehensive plan process, and she is hopeful that other housing gaps will be filled as a result of that effort.
Moninger said in 2001, just more than 100 people asked for homeless assistance from CAS, a number that she said the county should be proud of because it was not higher.
But, in the midst of uncertain economic times, she said she fears that the number could increase.
Once a shelter is developed, she said, an organization like Goodwill Industries would handle the its day-to-day operation, to better offer services for people. She envisions the emergency shelter would house people for 60 days, and as many as 10 people could live there at one time.
Moninger said the county applied for $200,000 in funding and will have to match the state grant amounts dollar for dollar. She said the match could come through in-kind services, such as the use of county maintenance employees to help renovate a building into the emergency shelter.
The county has looked at several sites to serve as a possible shelter, but Moninger said she and Bargerstock will continue to scout suitable locations.
She said the effort received a letter of support from U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who learned of the county’s interest in the shelter program during a visit to Greene County in August.
She said the county is preparing another grant, this one for transitional housing, to be able to move people from the emergency shelter to another facility, where they could stay for as long as two years, and allow service agencies in the county to continue providing resources.
Bargerstock said she hopes the county will be able to offer a seamless system of housing, from emergency shelters to upscale housing developments. This shelter is the first phase in reaching that goal, she said.
“We are still looking at pieces of housing in the planning and development office, and this is just one piece we are working on now,” she said.