LANCASTER, Pa. — Homeless service providers in Lancaster County must grapple with the lack of a permanent walk-in homeless shelter in the county while a new one is being built.
Lancaster's previous walk-in low-barrier shelter on North Prince Street was forced to close in June after the property’s lease with the Lancaster County Homeless Coalition ended.
A new shelter at the Otterbein United Methodist Church will open on December 1. In the meantime, some unhoused residents of the previous shelter have been looking for help.
"We just kept open lines of communication with everyone that was in the shelter," said Rebecca Saner of the Lancaster County Food Hub, which had operated the N. Prince Street shelter. "We said we're not going anywhere. We intend to remain consistent to you, to walk with you in this journey of moving forward.'"
Thirty of the 80 residents of the previous shelter were placed in other facilities. This left the Food Hub and other outreach groups to take care of the remainder of the residents without a permanent place to live.
"We have been able to maintain relationships with most of them wherever they're staying outdoors," Saner said. "Some of them were able to reconnect with family to find places. Some of them were able to go into other shelter systems that are within the city. Our street outreach team is supporting those that did choose to go outdoors and did not take shelter options or did not have the ability to move into any kind of independent housing."
The Food Hub is currently in the midst of a capital campaign to fund an expansion of its footprint and its wrap-around services for the community.
The Lancaster County Homeless Coalition released a statement to FOX43 on the current state of homelessness and shelters in the county.
“The Office for the Homelessness Coalition has been working with city and county government officials, Lancaster City Alliance, and the City of Lancaster Police Department to address growing public health and safety concerns, unattended dogs, and an infestation of rodents," the statement reads. "Members of the street outreach team have built trusted relationships with many of the unsheltered individuals around the Lancaster County Government Building and began working with individuals to relocate their possessions last week ahead of the planned disbursement that occurred this morning. Street outreach will continue to engage with individuals assisting them to connect with available resources for their situation.
Currently there are no additional shelter resources available due to the closure of the low-barrier emergency shelter operating on N. Prince Street at the end of June. There are short-term financial resources available for independent housing, but utilization of these resources is challenging to due to housing costs and a lack of steady income for many unsheltered individuals. Construction has begun for the new permanent low-barrier emergency shelter at the corner of Queen and Clay Streets, which will open in December 2024under the operation of the YMCA of the Roses, with funding provided through the Office for the Homelessness Coalition and Lancaster County Housing and Redevelopment Authority.”