ServiceNet Hosts Warming Center at The Pearl
BY BRITTANY POLITO
iBERKSHIRES.COM
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6TH, 2024
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Housing advocates are considering how to get people off the streets as temperatures drop.
At the beginning of the month, ServiceNet soft opened a warming center at its shelter behind First United Methodist Church. The Pearl opened earlier this year and has a waitlist for one of its 40 beds.
“That warming center is different from a shelter because there’s no beds. It is really a space for people to come into, get warm, have something warm to drink, some snacks, that kind of thing, and we will operate that as we did last year from 10 o’clock at night until eight in the morning,” Director of Shelter and Housing Erin Forbush told the Homelessness Advisory Committee on Wednesday.
“We are hoping to have that system operating through the winter and last year, we were able to do the same thing and had a number of people in there. So as I say, it’s a soft opening, as we just try to set up, get supplies that we need, and get staff that we need, and we will take people in because we know it’s cold.”
She reported that the shelter at 21 Pearl St. is full. There are 24 beds for men and 16 beds for women.
“Occasionally we have people moving in and out but we are operating on a waitlist basis,” she said.
Jane Pixley, Hearthway’s director of housing resources, education, and access, was invited to the meeting to speak about resources for families experiencing homelessness. She explained that, as far as the state is concerned, you have to meet the definition of homelessness to be placed in a family shelter.
State residents can apply for an Emergency Assistance Family Shelter if they have a gross family income of 115 percent or less of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, are pregnant, or have children under age 21. For a family of two, this is just under $2,000 a month.
“As far as families are concerned, there’s not enough family shelter beds,” she said.
“And so when someone is coming in with their minor children in their custody and they need housing immediately, we are now handing out a phone number to the folks at the state who decide where they can place these folks.”
The state will then look at where the family can be placed.
“They could end up placing them in Holyoke, in which case they would send a taxi for them and bring them to that shelter bed,” Pixley explained.
“As we all also know, sometimes that’s not an option for folks if their kids are in the school system locally or their doctors are here and they have a medical need or they have a job here.”
Hearthway coaches people through the process. Once a person is EA eligible, it opens the doors for HomeBASE, which provides up to $30,000 over a two-year period, with the possibility of a third year of help.
Pixley said housing searches have been a universal issue. There is funding available and the process has been streamlined with less paperwork but there is a lack of available units for people to move into.
“Shelter workers are really scrambling to find apartments for families in shelter because there is money available for those folks but it’s not easy to find them a place to go. Units have to be lead compliant, not every place in the state has old housing stock like we do but there’s a good portion that do, and we certainly don’t have enough,” she said.
“And people want to live where they want to live. They want to live near their family system and their doctors and they may not have flexibility so it’s been really, tough on the shelter workers because they’re being pressured to make space.”
Forbush added that people are also hesitant to enter into a lease if they think it isn’t sustainable.
“Yes, there is money that supports them but some families are looking at long term like, what’s going to happen if a voucher doesn’t come along or a subsidy?” she said.
“Sometimes it’s a very difficult space to kind of push people towards something that they’re rightfully nervous about.”
Additionally, families are often placed in a location that is not accessible to basic needs and public transportation, Pixley pointed out, which creates another barrier.
Director of Community Development Justine Dodds recognized that the colder months lead to a perpetual community issue every year.
“It is very, very cold out there and we are seeing large numbers of people who really need some place to be warm,” she said. “So I want to say that ServiceNet is a great community partner and thank you for stepping up.”
Forbush said that as complicated and challenging the process can be, it is nowhere near as challenging as not having a place to be when it is cold out.
On Tuesday, Hearthway hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for 37 new units of supportive housing, 28 to be built on West Housatonic Street and nine inside Zion Lutheran Church on First Street.
“Yesterday was so exciting and just it was really invigorating to be there at the groundbreaking at Zions,” Chair Kim Borden said.
