Amid transition, Out of the Cold sets its sights on opening full-time homeless shelter
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Hidden Homeless
In Centre County, homelessness looks much different than what most people have in mind. It’s not people sleeping on streets, but in cars, on couches, in temporary housing arrangements arranged by nonprofits. With no full-time, drop-in homeless shelter, and other shelters and services clustered within the Centre Region and inaccessible to rural residents, officials say the problem is growing and is in need of a collaborative solution. “Hidden Homeless,” a multipart series from the CDT, explores services and potential solutions.
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Amid transition, Out of the Cold sets its sights on opening full-time homeless shelter
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Even before Out of the Cold: Centre County entered a period of transition following the death of program manager and homeless advocate Becki Romig, change was on the horizon was the organization.
For years, Romig coordinated OOTC3’s seasonal emergency shelters, which operate on a rotation of local churches. Days before her death, Romig met with Centre County Director of Adult Services Faith Ryan to discuss potential funding opportunities to expand the program.
In June, Romig said that while OOTC3 is able to help many of State College’s homeless community, a full-time shelter would help guests and lessen the burden placed on local churches and volunteers.
“We’d love to extend our overnight program,” she told the CDT. “But in the long run, a full-time shelter would really serve the homeless community.”
Now, that dream is closer to becoming a reality. Kendra Gettig, interim OOTC3 board chair, said a full-time homeless shelter could happen in the coming months. The shelter would create more time for case management services, create availability to bring job coaches to the site and provide shower and laundry facilities for guests to use.
“We currently have the money budgeted to be able to do that later this season,” Gettig said. “We just need to find the right facility. We do have a couple of possible options, and we’re having conversations with those people.”
In 2011, the seed of OOTC3 was planted through discussions about how Centre County’s homeless population was underserved. The issue was highlighted when a Bellefonte man died from hypothermia while sleeping in a tent overnight.
“If people didn’t fit the mold of being part of a family, being a victim of domestic violence or were in between the age bracked of 16-22, there really wasn’t a shelter for them,” Gettig said. “Out of the Cold fills the gap that couldn’t be served by other homeless agencies.”
Currently operating a daytime and overnight shelter, OOTC3 has partnerships with 12 local congregations. Housing rotates from mid-October to May and begins at 9 p.m. each night. Guests are given a hot meal and are welcome to spend the night until 7 a.m. the next day where they are then given breakfast.
“We really just want to focus on the shelter part of homelessness, making sure the person has a place to stay,” Gettig said. “At this point, OOTC3 is mostly a crisis type emergency shelter. We try and meet a person’s basic needs of shelter and food.”
So far this season, the shelter has averaged 10-12 people per night, Gettig said. On Nov. 26, 21 guests stayed on cots lined in hallways at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in State College. During the 2017-18 season, OOTC3 served 118 guests.
Guests come to the shelter for a variety of reasons, Gettig said.
“We also serve folks who are homeless due to family conflict, high rent prices compared to little pay, lack of employment, etc.,” she said.
In an attempt to fill a void created by the closure of Hearts for the Homeless, OOTC3 opened its daytime shelter last year. On Mondays and Fridays, clients have the option of going to St. Paul’s United Methodist Church at 250 E. College Ave. and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, clients can go to Faith United Church of Christ across the street at 300 E. College Ave.
During the summer, the shelter only functions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
While at the shelter, guests can take advantage of case management services and referrals and pick up their mail.
“We help people get their driver’s licenses, other forms of identifications, medical assistance and food stamps,” Gettig said. “We try and take care of the very basic need of food and shelter and then refer them to people with other expertise and services.”
The organization relies almost entirely on volunteers, with two to five people at the overnight shelter each night.
“The people who come to us need a caring community and people that take a deep interest and are aware of their physical and emotional and spiritual needs,” said Larry Woods, a longtime OOTC3 volunteer.
Tamboura Colbert, support coordinator at OOTC3, said the move to a full-time shelter is a critical one for the homeless community.
“Part of the growth that needs to take place in Out of the Cold is addressing the fact that there is no housing anywhere on the weekends,” Colbert said. “Out of the Cold is still a new organization and there’s a lot of more needs our community needs to meet.”
If you are interested in donating to or volunteering with OOTC3, email ootccentreco@gmail.com.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 8:13 AM.