Renovations underway to provide stability for guests at State College homeless shelter
Two years after Out of the Cold: Centre County purchased a building as its new permanent home, the low-barrier homeless shelter is inching closer to providing stable shelter every night.
OOTC, a homeless shelter in State College that provides shelter, food and support services to those experiencing homelessness, has operated out of the building at 318 S. Atherton St., State College, since 2020 and purchased the building in 2021.
But OOTC has only been able to use it as a day shelter and at night, guests continue to stay at local churches, which rotate about every two weeks.
OOTC has long been in the process of renovating its shelter so it can be used as a permanent shelter. Jordan Taylor, the nonprofit’s new executive director, said renovations started at the end of March and they’ll continue to do church rotations until the end of May.
“In June, we should be at the shelter permanently moving forward, which is super exciting to have a stable location for our guests, for our day and night shelter,” Taylor said. “...It’s less stressful to have to pack up all of their stuff and all of their belongings and move every two weeks to a new location with new rules and new bus routes, so it’s definitely less stressful and more stable for our guests.”
It’s been a lengthy process, Taylor said, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and funding. After OOTC purchased the building, and before COVID, they began to get quotes on what renovations would cost. Those costs doubled after COVID.
The estimated $500,000 renovations won’t add to the building, but there will be private rooms for meetings with providers or support, wellness rooms and accessible bathrooms facilities. Renovations also include a new HVAC and sprinkler system.
The day shelter is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and they like to operate in a way that allows anyone experiencing homelessness to have access to the shelter. That’s open to anyone who needs assistance, a place to eat, shower, do laundry or just a warm and dry place. At the night shelter, they are capped at 28 guests due to code restrictions and staffing limitations.
There’s been a waitlist for months, Taylor said. At the beginning of March, the waitlist had more than 40 people.
“That means we do have to run a waitlist for our overnight shelter. What we would hopefully do in the future after renovations are completed and if we have the funding for it, we would like to have an overflow shelter during the winter months and we would look at churches for that piece of it,” Taylor said.
People can become homeless for a number of reasons, including high housing costs. It is hard to find affordable housing, especially in the State College area. When someone does find affordable housing, it is often outside of Happy Valley and transportation can become an issue. Many of the shelter’s guests don’t drive and rely on public transportation, which largely isn’t accessible outside of the State College area.
“Whenever you do find an apartment in State College that you’re able to afford, landlords are looking for a cosigner, they’re looking at credit checks, they’re looking at background history, and to be honest, who can get all that? People are homeless because they don’t have the natural support that they need, and now we’re asking them to have great credit and have a cosigner, and it’s unrealistic for people right now,” Taylor said. Having landlords who are willing to be flexible on the rent amount and work with people who don’t have cosigners would go a long way, she said.
OOTC is community based and relies on volunteers and donations. The shelter has one of its biggest fundraisers later this month, which will help raise money for shelter renovations. A “sleep out weekend” is planned for April 21-23 and there are multiple ways to get involved. At 6:30 p.m. April 21 at Calvary Church Harvest Fields there will be a brief presentation about OOTC, a dinner, outside games and a campfire before the sleep out weekend. More information is available online, ootc3.networkforgood.com/projects/186896-sleep-out-weekend-2023.
