Finding shelter: City, social service agencies coordinate response to displaced residents
Washington City Council members Monda Williams and Joe Manning meet Thursday with representatives of local agencies to discuss temporary placement of residents who lost their homes as a result of the recent condemnations of two apartment buildings.
Capt. Amber Imhoff of the Salvation Army speaks during a meeting Thursday at Washington City Hall to discuss temporary placement of people forced out of their homes as a result of the city’s actions on two apartment buildings.
In the aftermath of the July 12 collapse of the Montgomery Building at 15 N. Main St. and the city’s ramping up of its inspections of problem buildings, Washington officials found themselves dealing with an unanticipated human challenge.
“It’s a terrible thing to go inspect some place and have to tell people you have to remove them from their homes,” said Councilman Joe Manning on Thursday.
During a half-hour meeting with representatives of numerous social service agencies, Manning, Councilwoman Monda Williams and Mayor Scott Putnam quickly assessed which ones could provide specific services to help evicted residents find temporary or permanent living arrangements after their residences were deemed unfit for human habitation.
The response from the group, including the Salvation Army, Washington County Housing Authority, Washington City Mission, Catholic Charities and Community Action Southwest, was that there are numerous ways they can help with placement or at least with supplying clothing, food and other essential items.
City officials called the meeting because of emergency closures at two rental units, one on Hall Avenue and another on Duncan Avenue, last week that immediately displaced about 20 people.
“We’ve been leaning heavily on the Red Cross,” Manning said. “They’ve been wonderful.” But he added that relocations aren’t a part of the relief organization’s mission.
The evictions that the city was forced to make on such quick notice and the relocations that were necessary as a result caught it off guard, Manning said.
“It was something we were not prepared to do on this scale,” he said. “We were flying by the seat of our pants.”
Immediately following the July 12 partial collapse of the Montgomery Building, Manning said he turned to the Red Cross, but didn’t know about other resources that were available locally.
But when he asked which groups could help with relocations, the response provided multiple paths.
Dean Gartland, president of the City Mission, said the agency could assist with providing temporary shelter for single males and some single females.
Capt. Amber Imhoff of the Washington Salvation Army said it could also provide rooms until people found permanent homes.
Gartland said City Mission is in the process of remodeling its women and children’s center, which won’t be completed until March.
However, a representative of Connect Inc., an affiliate of Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services Inc., operates a family shelter on Highland Avenue that could fill that need.
Community Action Southwest provides assistance with rent and utility payments based on a person’s income eligibility, said Jessica Hajek-Bates, director of family economic success.
Those needing clothing or other personal items could be served by Catholic Charities, said Gary D. Yaquinto, who directs operations in Washington and Greene counties.
Part of Thursday’s discussion centered on the logistics of finding places for the displaced to relocate.
Steve Hall, director of the county housing authority, noted that while it has housing available throughout the county, placements are done by waiting lists, which in many instances contain hundreds of names.
He noted that at any given time, units in Washington are 98 percent occupied.
Hajek-Bates said Community Action already has worked with many of those who were evicted last week.
She suggested that the city provide her agency with a list of rental properties that it was inspecting so that more people aren’t sent there to live.
Manning asked that the agency call code enforcement officer Ron McIntyre to see which properties have ordinance violations.
He said that as the city hones its response to derelict housing, it plans to inspect any buildings that are being sold before they change hands to a new owner.
As for helping displaced residents find the help they need, both Manning and Putnam felt Thursday’s meeting was a step in the right direction.
The meeting provided answers about “things we didn’t know about 15 minutes ago,” Manning said at the close of the meeting.