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State College OKs Block Grant Funds for Out of the Cold’s Purchase of a Permanent Shelter Location

State College Borough Council on Monday night unanimously approved reassigning some Community Development Block Grant funds to assist Out of the Cold: Centre County with acquiring a permanent location for its overnight homeless shelter.

Council authorized an amendment to the borough’s plans for use of CDBG funds to direct $234,000 to Out of the Cold for its purchase and renovation of the Meetinghouse on Atherton, 318 S. Atherton St.

The amendment will take $227,138.81 from the Borough First-Time Homebuyer Program and $6,861.19 from the operating budget for the now-defunct House of Care.

Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the First-Time Homebuyer Program “has seen little demand.” In a policy briefing summary, Senior Planner Maureen Safko explained that first-time homebuyers have had a preference in recent years “to purchase homes through the State College Community Land Trust, or through The HOME
Foundation, rather than on the open market as the Borough-Low FTHB Program permits.”

The nonprofit House of Care shut down operations at 515 W. Beaver Ave. in May after more than 20 years of providing housing to five individuals with very low income, no family support and health challenges.

“I’m very pleased to see that after the closing of this very important home that some of the operating funds that were left over can be used,” said Phil Jones, an Out of the Cold executive committee member and former administrator of House of Care. “It bridges and brings together a partnership that is close to my heart.”

Out of the Cold has leased space in the Meetinghouse since early 2020 for its day shelter. Its decade-old overnight shelter program has rotated every two to four weeks among more than a dozen participating faith congregations.

The acquisition of the Meetinghouse will create a permanent home for a low-barrier homeless shelter operating day and night. It will be able to accommodate up to 30 overnight guests.

“I really appreciate the fact that the borough is considering making these funds available for Out of the Cold,” Jones said. “It’s something that this county has long looked forward to being able to bring to fruition, that is a low-barrier shelter where persons in this community who are experiencing homelessness can find a place of rest.”

The Meetinghouse was built in 1927 by the Quaker community in State College and was expanded over the ensuing decades.

Sarah Schafer is the current owner of the Meetinghouse and offered it for sale to Out of the Cold. For the past several years, the Meetinghouse has been the home of Taproot Kitchen, the culinary venture co-founded by Schafer that provides opportunities to young adults with autism and intellectual disabilities. It has grown from cooking classes to a full catering company that also offers products at farmers markets.

Taproot hasn’t been able to use The Meetinghouse for its commercial kitchen because of zoning and does its cooking elsewhere, Schafer said earlier this year. The Meetinghouse mostly serves as storage space for the organization has been looking for a new space.

In April, council approved a zoning map amendment that made a shelter there possible. The property has long operated as a church use but the shelter will be considered a community center, which was not permitted in The Meetinghouse’s R2 zoning. The amendment moved the property into the adjacent R-3H zoning, where community centers are permitted.

Sarah Klinetob Lowe, an Out of the Cold volunteer, said on Monday that funding to help make the purchase happen was vital because of the limited options available for a shelter. She noted that Centre Region building code requires “congregational occupancy capacity,” for shelters, essentially necessitating a commercial property because renovations to a typical residential building would be prohibitively costly.

“I wanted to emphasize how invaluable it is that Out of the Cold found a property that would work for a homeless shelter in the borough, given the number of zoning and building code hurdles to make a homeless shelter a reality,” she said.