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The Lycoming County Commissioners put out a call for anyone who has any ideas or resources to help with finding a long-term solution to the lack of homeless shelters in the area, particularly those equipped to house women and children.
Commissioner Scott Metzger said that the commissioners met with representatives of the American Rescue Workers (ARW), which, up until September, had operated the Saving Grace Shelter in Williamsport. Anticipating that the building would be sold, ARW closed the shelter, before the prospective buyers had made a final commitment to the sale.
Because of an issue with city codes due to an increase in capacity at the facility, the buyers decided to pass, leaving the area with a shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness.
Family Promise, another non-profit which served homeless families, also closed earlier this year.
The YWCA Northcentral PA, which offers limited housing in their Wise Options program for those who are homeless due to leaving domestic abuse situations, was also in on the conversation,
"Currently there is next to none or very limited space for women that are homeless and especially children," Metzger said.
Referring to the Saving Grace shelter, Metzger said that "they would like to reopen the facility, but there needs to be a long-term plan with funding available.
"So we're reaching out to the community. Anyone who has any ideas or resources we could go to, to provide that long-term funding," Metzger said.
"They want to get to the winter, try to temporarily reopen it, but they don't want to reopen it just to close it again after the spring when those funds dry up. So they're looking for a long-term plan. This is a critical issue in our community, and so as everybody tries to brainstorm a solution to this, we're inviting the public to please reach out to us or the American Rescue Workers about possible solutions," Metzger said.
When Clinton Township Fire Chief Todd Winder asked why the county doesn't take the leadership and provide resources if the need is so critical, Metzger said, "we would love to take on a lot of the projects. We just do not have the funds."
"I understand that, but what I'm saying is, if you have to raise taxes to provide a long-term funding source or stream for something that is critically needed right now, I don't think you would have the pushback that you do for any of the tax increase, because I think the people see it," Winder said.
"If you look on social media, there are people posting pictures of more and more homeless, especially in the central Williamsport area, and it's surprising to me. I know there's a lot of people that live along the Riverwalk, we have it over in Montgomery," Winder said.
Winder said that he felt it should be the mission of the county to offer a solution.
"That's a good question...One of the problems we talked about in a meeting the other day when we had the Wise Options, and the people that were running Saving Grace in the office was there's so many people grabbing the federal monies and the state monies. So I don't know, would we be able to grab a piece of that money, and if we grab that, then does that affect the Wise Options," said Commissioner Marc Sortman.
"So that's kind of where the beginning of the conversations are. How do we bring everybody together as one entity, as opposed to five different entities all pulling the same," Sortman added.
Winder pointed out that he feels that if the county would run a facility, they could oversee it and see that it's funded and operated correctly.
"It just seems to me that it seems like a smart choice. It seems like a logical choice. If these other people were struggling in it, and we have the issue in the county, the county should try to do what it can to circumvent it, help it, sustain it," Winder said.
When contacted the day after the commissioners' meeting this week, Ben Hazen, ARW's executive director, issued the following statement: "The American Rescue Workers are diligently working towards either a long-term or short-term solution for the Saving Grace Shelter."