ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Dozens of people on Tuesday brainstormed solutions to homelessness at Allentown YMCA’s Warming Station, where residents of an encampment soon could be spending their nights.
The camp’s impending closure — first set for Monday but extended until Sept. 29 — left many people “angry, frustrated and heartbroken,” Christina DiPierro, co-chairwoman of Allentown’s Commission on Homelessness, said during a Community Conversation.
But DiPierro touted some progress that’s been made in the weeks since Mayor Matt Tuerk’s decision to close the camp.
“Homelessness is solvable if we work together."Christina DiPierro, co-chair of Allentown's Commission on Homelessness
Allentown, Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation teamed up to fund the early opening of the Y’s temporary shelter. It will have 80 beds to serve people who need a place to sleep from the end of September through mid-April.
Those who live at the camp also have been given more time to figure out their next move; Tuerk postponed their eviction about five weeks.
The camp’s shutdown also brought much-needed attention to Allentown’s unhoused population and was a catalyst for local officials, social workers, nonprofits and many others to recommit to helping unhoused residents, DiPierro said.
Allentown needs “a system where no one falls through the cracks,” she said. “That requires collaboration, commitment and community.”
“Homelessness is solvable if we work together.”
Not 'who they are'
Helping unhoused city residents has “far-reaching benefits for the entire community," DiPierro said.
It boosts economic activity through more stable employment and increased spending power while “reducing the strain” on the city’s emergency services, she said.
Evette Quinones Morales, a former client of Easton’s Third Street Alliance, urged those at the community conversation to ensure they recognize the humanity in those they are trying to help.
People who have experienced homelessness "deserve more than a seat at the table. They should be leading [the] conversations."Christina DiPierro, co-chair of Allentown's Commission on Homelessness
Homelessness “isn’t who they are, it’s a situation they’re in,” Morales said.
Not all unhoused people are addicted to drugs or struggling with mental health issues; for some, it’s just “nearly impossible” to afford rent, she said.
Morales said she was homeless eight years ago.
The “reminder that I was still human changed my life,” she said.
DiPierro urged those at Tuesday's Community Conversation to center people who have experienced homelessness in their search for solutions.
They "deserve more than a seat at the table," she said. "They should be leading [the] conversations."
