Safety issues cloud future for winter shelter in Downtown
Minister worries after county halts operation
A longtime winter haven for the homeless won’t open on its usual mid-November schedule, and the minister who hosts the facility is worried that there isn’t yet an alternative arrangement for the 100-plus people who typically depend on it.
Since 2000, the Smithfield United Church of Christ has opened its doors to the homeless, traditionally from Nov. 15 until spring. Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net staffs the nighttime shelter, and the Allegheny County Department of Human Services pays for it all.
This year, though, worries about safety at the 94-year-old church have prompted the county to put the brakes on its opening, even as temperatures drop and concern about homelessness mounts.
“Our decision was made due to safety findings,” county human services spokesman Mark Bertolet wrote. The church “is not currently up to code to serve as a shelter and we are unable to use the space as such until this is corrected.”
That could mean a big gap in the region’s small portfolio of shelters at the worst time.
“People will freeze to death,” said Aubrey Plesh, an independent street outreach worker who sounded the alarm on Facebook this week. “We already have dropping temperatures. We have rain
in the evening. Hypothermia kicks in, in these conditions.”
Last year, the winter shelter at Smithfield United Church of Christ opened a few weeks late because of a leaky pipe that led to mold, said the Rev. Douglas Patterson, senior minister at the church. Temporary accommodation was made at Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship in the Bluff, but “it was a very overcrowded situation,” he said.
This year, the church faces higher hurdles.
“We have systems that need to be upgraded to be up to code. And the other thing would be accessibility,” Rev. Patterson said, noting that while the church has an elevator, it is also strewn with stairways. Although the building isn’t a “fire trap,” there are fire safety shortcomings that should be addressed, he said.
But he was puzzled by the decision not to allow the shelter to open because nothing much has changed in the gymnasium used to shelter men and the separate women’s space.
“The conditions are exactly the same as they were for the last several years that the shelter has been there,” he said. “Why now, when we’re just a few weeks away from opening up for the year?”
Rev. Patterson said he hoped to get funding to fix and open the shelter later in the year.
“We’re a perfect location for that because we’re right Downtown, and we have space,” he said.
The county is “exploring what upgrades are required and also the cost,” wrote Mr. Bertolet, of the human services department. But his statement also indicated that the county is casting about for other options.
“While currently it does not appear we can open a shelter in its usual location at the Smithfield United Church of Christ, we do intend to provide winter weather shelter services,” he wrote. “We are in the process of working with and seeking new community partners to solidify new locations and welcome offers for collaboration while we work to address the issues with the shelter space at the church.”
It may not be easy to find a place with the capacity and the tolerance to fill the church’s role. Smithfield United Church of Christ had served as a rare “lowbarrier” shelter that would take people even if they seemed intoxicated. Efforts to find places to fill that role year-round have floundered, even as city and county leaders try to address concerns with Downtown homelessness and panhandling.
Word is getting around, Ms. Plesh said. People who sleep outside during the warm months now “come to me to tell me that there is going to be no winter shelter or it will only be in McKeesport,” she said.
Action Housing runs a winter shelter in McKeesport with space for 25 people.
Homeless people may end up in emergency rooms, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, or the Allegheny County Jail, Ms. Plesh said.
“Without Downtown shelter space, people will be outside and their lives in peril,” said Larry Swanson, executive director of Action Housing, a nonprofit working on affordable housing issues that is providing pro bono architectural advice to the site on ways to improve safety. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do this winter” and to find a long-term solution, he said. “We can’t afford to let people be on the street in the wintertime. They’re going to die.”
“It’s just an unfortunate situation,” Rev. Patterson said, “and hopefully, the quote-unquote powers that be are coming together to find a solution.”