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Task force addresses continued Fayette County emergency shelter funding shortage

By Mike Tony mtony@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Mike Tony | Herald-Standard

Area lawmakers and Fayette County emergency shelter staff convened Friday to address the county’s lack of Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding.

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Mike Tony | Herald-Standard

City Mission-Living Stones Inc. Executive Director Irmi Gaut updated lawmakers and other officials about her agency’s funding situation at a task force meeting Friday.

Local lawmakers, emergency shelter staff and other officials gathered for a task force meeting at the Fayette Chamber of Commerce building Friday to continue coordinating efforts to stave off a shutdown of Fayette County’s emergency shelters, whose operations have been jeopardized by a lack of Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding.

ESG funding for the men’s, women’s and family emergency shelters for Uniontown-based City Mission-Living Stones Inc. is now slated to expire at the end of August, at which point City Mission Executive Director Irmi Gaut has said the shelters which serve approximately 500 homeless people annually would have to close.

Emergency shelter staff, business leaders and area lawmakers also met last month for an ESG-focused meeting during which they brainstormed ways to keep Fayette County’s emergency shelters open. The ESG funding for City Mission was originally slated to expire this month, but an ESG budget reallocation and donations since then have extended City Mission’s funding pipeline through August.

Fayette County Community Action Agency’s Bridgehouse, a transitional living facility for homeless families, is still only be able to remain open through June 30 as a result of ESG funding reallocations to the county.

The state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) awarded Fayette County $100,000 in ESG funding for fiscal year 2017, none of which was allocated for emergency shelter operations or essential services.

Gaut said that her agency was pursuing a multi-year grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation as well as grant funding from organizations including the PNC Foundation and Chevron.

“My goal is try to get two years’ worth and then be able to really look long-term at the (funding) problem,” Gaut said. “There’s obviously not going to be just one source to supply enough.”

Gaut reported the agency had received $6,450 in donations from area churches, $8,000 from businesses and $5,500 in family-advised funding through Community Foundation of Fayette County. She also noted a $25,000 commitment from the Fayette County Behavioral Health Administration.

Friday’s meeting was hosted by state Rep. Matt Dowling, R-Uniontown, with participants including Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin Township, Stefano’s Chief of Staff Ben Wren, all three Fayette County commissioners, Patty Yauger, field representative for U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, Fayette County Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Andrew French and other representatives from Community Action and City Mission.

Dowling noted that although the ESG funding is administered by the DCED, the funding shortage stems from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) deemphasizing emergency shelters in favor of permanent supportive housing.

“What frustrates me is it seems like a political move that some people wanted to do to say that we have less homeless people, because when you get them into a permanent solution, they’re no longer classified as homeless,” Dowling said. “That if we just move funding from column A to column C, we don’t have homeless people anymore. And that’s absolutely not true.”

“The (DCED) is unable to provide as much funding to shelters across the Commonwealth as it has in the past as the federal government has transitioned its funding priorities,” DCED Deputy Communications Director Michael Gerber said last month. “If the department received more funding from the Trump administration, DCED would have the additional resources necessary to fund additional projects like City Mission-Living Stones.”

“Unfortunately, there is no pot of money to go to at this time,” Yauger said, recalling having spoken with HUD Community Planning and Development Pittsburgh Field Office Director John Tolbert and reporting that HUD began changing its policies regarding emergency shelters three years ago.

Yauger recommended per Tolbert that the Community Development Block Grant program through DCED could be an ESG funding source to consider.

Leah Dietrich, director of residential programs at Washington City Mission, noted last month that corporations, church partners and other donors keep her agency funded. Dan Carney, executive director of Union Mission in Latrobe, said that his agency’s emergency men’s shelter and other programs don’t depend on federal, state or local government funds.

But Greene County does not have an emergency shelter and would be adversely affected if Fayette County’s City Mission closes, said Amy Switalski, housing and family resources director of Greene County Human Services, which has been solely dependent on City Mission-Living Stones, Inc. for homeless housing for the past year and a half.

Gaut on Friday stressed the need for emergency shelters in Fayette County, noting a two or three-week waiting period for longer-term housing approval for homeless individuals, who may be missing important documentation such as birth certificates and Social Security cards and may have mental health or substance abuse issues to account for.

“It’s not just, tomorrow we can put you in an apartment,” Gaut said.

Members of the task force will meet again next month to keep tabs on and respond to Fayette County’s emergency shelter funding situation as it evolves.

“There’s no way to get someone in permanent housing on the second day that they’re homeless,” Dowling said. “These facilities are still going to continue to be necessary.”

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