Rural homeless face unique challenges. Here’s how one central Pa. community is responding
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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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Rural homeless face unique challenges. Here’s how one central Pa. community is responding
Tucked behind businesses on the border of Centre and Clearfield counties, tarps and tents can be found near the train tracks for most of the year.
It’s home to one of Philipsburg’s most vulnerable populations, and part of a growing homeless problem in the rural area, according to Moshannon Valley YMCA Executive Director Mel Curtis.
“We do have in our area, 10 families at any given time that are homeless,” Curtis said, pointing to others who live in cars, abandoned buildings or rundown trailers. “We’re seeing more and more of it in this little area — a little community — and ultimately, I think we’re going to see a lot more of it.”
Housing insecurity comes with a number of challenges — addiction, food insecurity, financial instability and minimal access to child care, hygiene products and medical treatment. With resources based primarily in the Centre Region and no public transportation to these hubs, rural residents in need are met with makeshift day shelters and virtually no access to long-term assistance.
Although Curtis said the community never fails to help those in need, when it comes to addressing poverty, there’s too much need for Philipsburg to handle on its own.
Philipsburg’s growing homeless problem
While Philipsburg is home to a YMCA, American Red Cross, CenClear Services and active volunteers, Curtis said they are not equipped to accommodate everyone in need, adding that a countywide effort is needed.
During the winter months, the YMCA offers shelter from the cold, free meals and stocks a closet of blankets, clothes and hygiene products for anyone who might need assistance. But due to safety concerns and staffing limitations, the organization is unable to provide overnight shelter.
Through the YMCA Weekend Backpack Program and Little Bag of Sunshine partnership — a program where students receive a backpack of food and bag of hygiene products each Friday — students in the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District who experience insecurities are easier to reach. Once they graduate, outreach becomes harder.
In recent years, Curtis said the backpack program, the YMCA Christmas program and the number of people who contact his office asking for help has increased rapidly.
“It’s there whether people recognize it or not,” he said of homelessness. “A lot of these people don’t know where to turn. They don’t have a lot of easy access to resources.”
Having met people who lived in cars, vacant buildings and in tents along the train tracks, Curtis thinks opening a homeless shelter would provide immediate shelter for individuals in need. But when it comes to long-term solutions, the YMCA can’t do it alone.
“This community is always here for those in need, but this is one subject where we need to start to pull together because this isn’t going to stop,” Curtis said. “It’s only going to get worse.”
Expanding public transportation in Centre County
Accessing resources is one of the biggest hurdles for rural homeless populations, and while expanding public transportation systems would seem like an obvious solution, but CATA Public Relations Manager Jacqueline Sheader said an attempt made years ago “didn’t go very well.”
In 2012, the Area Transportation Authority of North Central Pennsylvania and the Centre Area Transportation Authority launched Clearfield-Centre Connector, a service that would serve commuters in Clearfield, Philipsburg and the Centre Region.
Six months after the pilot program launched, ATA reported an average of 4-10 riders boarding the bus each day.
Although Sheader said CATA would be open to discussions about expanding its services, it isn’t a project that would happen overnight. Currently operating 76 buses throughout the Centre Region, Sheader said the company is at capacity.
“Right now, we are a municipal authority, serving five local municipalities,” she said. “Expanding our service is a little more difficult because it involves more funding, buses and drivers.”
State College-centered services, with occasional exceptions
Aware of the gaps in public transportation, Centre County Director of Adult Services Faith Ryan said steps have been taken to reach people with no access to transportation.
“We do not have satellite stations in rural areas of the county for our rental assistance programs,” Ryan said. “Clients typically come to our State College office for their intake unless other arrangements need to be made on a case-by-case basis.”
Even if a “satellite station” can be formed, this service requires individuals to initiate contact with Adult Services and local officials to see what resources and assistance programs would work best for them.
“It’s a step in the right direction to try and meet that need,” Ryan said. “Our services are very client-centered, but they have to drive it. They have to work harder than you as opposed to the opposite.”
Usually, Ryan said her office sees individuals right before they become homeless. In rural areas, she said many people couch surf, double-up — shared living arrangements — or rely on friends and family to find a place to stay.
“There’s a good chance that someone is going to take you in, and we find that people are less transient in those (rural) areas,” Ryan said.
Staffers work with individuals to find housing throughout the county, but when considering rural areas with little resources and limited access to transportation, Ryan said people don’t list those locations as their top choices.
At first, housing in rural areas might seem more affordable, but when people account for their transportation, food and other expenses, places like Philipsburg start to become expensive.
“There’s no transportation, and a lot of people have no family out there,” Ryan said. “You’re kind of setting them up for failure.”
While the county works to enhance its services and partner with local organizations to best serve the homeless population, Curtis said he is confident community members will continue to step up and take individuals in. But he hopes for long-term, concrete solutions.
What makes the Moshannon Valley YMCA unique is that it is “community-oriented” and works to provide people with the resources they need as quickly as possible, Curtis said.
“We’re blessed. We really are,” Curtis said. “We’ve got a lot of good people, and if we had more of that, we wouldn’t be talking about homelessness. That’s just a given.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 8:11 AM.
