Smith-Wade-El’s secures $67K grant for Otterbein Emergency Shelter

Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus    July 3, 2024 | 10:53 AM

HARRISBURG, July 2 – A longtime advocate for the unhoused in Lancaster, state Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El secured a $67,000 state grant for the Lancaster Redevelopment Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, for the emergency shelter at the Otterbein United Methodist Church, which will open in Dec. 2024.

The Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority, with support from the Lancaster Redevelopment fund, will carry out the renovations, lease, and management of the emergency clinic.

The YMCA of the Roses will operate the shelter and funding of the operations will be provided in part by the Lancaster County Homeless Coalition.

“We have a growing unhoused population in Lancaster, with the Lancaster County Homeless Coalition’s showing a 13.5% increase this year from 2023,” Smith-Wade-El said. “With stagnant wages and the skyrocketing cost of housing, more and more people are becoming homeless. We need to make sure our neighbors have somewhere to go until they get on their feet, particularly as the cold weather sets in.”

The YMCA of the Roses’ emergency shelter at Otterbein United Methodist Church will be the county’s only low-barrier shelter in the winter, containing 80 beds. (Low-barrier shelters offer a warm and dry place to stay without preconditions like sobriety.)

“I am very glad that the unhoused in our community will have somewhere safe to stay during the winter,” Smith-Wade-El said. “We need to do more, though, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that effectively made being homeless a crime.  We need to help the unhoused find homes, not throw them in jail for not having one.  We need to provide more funding to programs that assist the homeless and to the Whole Home Repairs program and to ensure that there is more affordable housing in Pennsylvania. No one should be without a home in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Since he was elected to the PA House of Representatives in 2022, Smith-Wade-El has been a forceful advocate for the unhoused through legislation such as his H.B. 1769 which would seal no-fault eviction records so people can find housing, and through securing state grants, such as his securing $5000,000 in May 2024 to develop the Prince Street Hub, a site to provided needed aid and shelter to unhoused Lancastrians.