BELLEFONTE — Homelessness continues to be a problem in Centre County; however, some help may soon be on the way.
During this week’s Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting, Faith Ryan, Centre County’s deputy human services administrator and director of adult services, spoke at length about a contract with the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development for an Emergency Solutions Grant. The grant would support a homeless prevention program and expansion of emergency shelter services. As Ryan explained, the contract total is $212,689. It covers the period of Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023.
“Our homelessness continues to be on the rise, but it’s a very complex matter,” Ryan said. “Homelessness looks very different. There’s a lot of different definitions out there, depending on the program.”
According to Ryan, this is the first time her department has ever applied for the grant.
“It’s a really challenging grant. We’ve worked on finding other resources as we can, but I think we are at a critical point in Centre County. … The COVID kind of shone a light on what already existed, to be quite honest,” Ryan said.
Commissioner Amber Concepcion thanked Ryan for her efforts.
“Thanks for your work on securing this grant. It will make a difference to families in our community,” Concepcion said.
Ryan talked about tracking the number of homeless people in Centre County. “Typically, what will happen is that I will put together a Centre County report. I call it a ‘homeless census.’ It’s a snapshot of one night in January of what homelessness in Centre County looks like — whether they’re sleeping in their car, on the street. … It could be in an RV that has no utilities … all the way to folks that might be in a rapid re-housing program,” Ryan explained. According to Ryan, there were about 235 people listed in 2022. This year, she said, the number will probably be around 150. “That’s 150 people that we know of or that we visually saw during the count that are homeless,” Ryan said. No matter what it looks like, Ryan said that it’s “always an impactful number.” State College has just one homeless shelter, Out of the Cold. That likely won’t change anytime soon. “We are not currently playing any role in expanding or creating a new (shelter). I can say that Out of the Cold is working on their shelter, but that’s an arrangement with their organization as well as the State College Borough. The county is not necessarily involved,” Ryan said.
If you or someone you know is struggling with homelessness, two resources are: n Out of the Cold — (814) 852-8864 n Housing Transitions — (814) 237-5508 The commissioners reminded the public that Centre County Government buildings will be closed on Feb. 20 in observance of Presidents’ Day. The BOC will meet again at 10 a.m. on Feb. 21 at the Willowbank Building. The meeting is open to the public and will be televised live by C-NET.
