As temperatures cool, Pittsburgh’s homeless shelters face new challenges within the pandemic – PublicSource

With the onset of cold weather and increasing local COVID-19 cases, homeless shelters in the Pittsburgh area have seen an influx of federal aid, but face unprecedented challenges in keeping an already vulnerable population safe and out of the elements.

In December, the Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services received a $ 1.2 million award from the Federal CARES Act. The funds will go to ACTION-Housing / Team PSBG, Community Human Services and Pittsburgh Mercy to help cover the costs of emergency housing, targeted public outreach on the streets and preventing the community from spreading.

Service providers say the funds help. However, they have faced numerous challenges posed by the pandemic – from the need for additional space for social distancing to complications in obtaining food from emergency shelters – and still rely on community funding and other forms of funding to fill that void .

“This funding really doesn’t cover what it costs us to provide services – government and county funding – we’re grateful for that, but we really need to support that with other funding,” said Annette Fetchko, chief executive officer for Bethlehem Haven , a women’s shelter open all year round.

In March, during the first coronavirus peak in the United States, Researcher Several universities have determined that it will take approximately $ 11.5 billion for 400,000 new shelters to accommodate the estimated total homelessness in the U.S., social distancing space and the creation of quarantine facilities.

While the pandemic continues into the winter months, it is a particularly threatening time for people living with homelessness who may not have immediate access to hygiene products, medical care, and other basic needs.

“Each year, [the] Winter accommodations are difficult to set up for one reason or another, and in other years the food may have been difficult to find or the staff to find, and this year with COVID it was kind of all those challenges right away “Said Cynthia Shields, the assistant assistant director of housing and homelessness for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, during a September interview.

“We’re actually working together on a different level than perhaps in the past, and we’re glad that this is happening.”

Allegheny County as of January 2020 counted 887 people are homeless, an increase since 2019. Nationwide, the older adult homeless population is also affected projected trend upwards by 2030. A 2016 study also showed that homeless people, particularly those in their 50s, age faster and develop conditions such as memory loss or dysfunction – which makes them more susceptible to contracting the virus.

“Many of the people we are allowed to serve here in Bethlehem Haven have concurrent physical, behavioral and social morbidities. Hence, it is difficult to maintain safe distance in a shelter, especially in a community, “explained Fetchko.

To stop the virus from spreading, animal shelters have drastically changed their activities, from providing free masks for individuals to expanding sanctuaries to ensure social distancing.

Pittsburgh Mercy, a not for profit community and health care provider, operates and works with several homeless shelters in the area, including Bethlehem Haven. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Mercy has put new security measures in place to keep the homeless community safe, including the use of telemedicine and community testing.

“We realized that COVID will still be with us and we had to make some adjustments,” said Tony Beltran, President and CEO of Pittsburgh Mercy. “If we could resolve some of the medical need with a telemedicine visit versus someone going to the emergency room, we could actually … reduce the risk.”

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Pittsburgh Mercy also monitors symptoms in people checking in for the night. If someone shows symptoms at check-in or develops symptoms during their stay, they will be referred to the Allegheny County Safe Haven Hotel, which is five miles from downtown. If additional capacity is required, employees are also directed to hotels or other homeless shelter providers.

With winter shelters operating at night, it can be difficult to keep track of where and with whom people using the shelter come into contact during the day. This is another challenge when it comes to tracing contracts and spreading across the community, Fetchko said.

“[It] remains one of our greatest challenges: where do these people go during the day? They’re out in the community, they mingle with other people in the community, and we all know the community’s spread, ”she added.

Shelters also faced the challenges of space constraints and meal distribution.

The Smithfield United Church of Christ, a downtown animal shelter, only cares for 51 people, about half their usual number of 100, Beltran said. But when Pittsburgh Mercy realized the pandemic would last through the winter months, they knew they needed to add extra space, Beltran added.

It was then that Pittsburgh Mercy began working with Shepherds Heart Fellowship and Veteran’s Home in Uptown. The partnership made an additional 27 beds available for women.

Despite the addition of beds, winter shelters also faced meal distribution challenges and a shortage of volunteers.

Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, Bethlehem Haven was accepting donated meals and having those meals distributed by volunteers. However, for safety reasons, no more volunteers come in and meals are prepackaged.

Bethlehem Haven partnered with a community kitchen and United Way, a nonprofit that allowed minority restaurants and small businesses to keep their doors open while redesigning their food deliveries to help the shelter too.

Switching from donated to prepackaged meals is a financial burden, however, Fetchko said.

“Think about the cost and what it will cost us to deploy now [prepackaged meals]Therefore, the cost of running emergency shelters has increased significantly. And that’s certainly from a financial point of view, something that we look at every day, ”she said.

Despite the various financial and operational hurdles that emergency shelters have faced this year due to the pandemic, circumstances have brought shelters and their partners closer together to support those in need.

“I think [the pandemic] taught us a lot this year … The leadership of the Allegheny County’s Department of Health and DHS has actually helped providers come closer together, ”Beltran said. “We’re actually working together on a different level than perhaps in the past, and we’re glad that this is happening.”

Amanda Hernandez is an editorial intern at PublicSource. She can be reached at amandah@publicsource.org.

This story has been verified by Emily Briselli.