Residents of the downtown Smithfield Street shelter and other community members weighed in on the facility’s slated closure at a five-hour public hearing Thursday night. With few similar alternatives in the downtown area, advocates worry the closure will leave homeless people without shelter and resources.
Last month, Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services shared plans to close the low-barrier shelter in June. The last night the shelter will be available is June 20, 2023.
In the past, the Smithfield shelter stayed open from mid-November through mid-March, when colder temperatures rolled through the region. But this past spring DHS announced that it would remain open indefinitely after demand for the shelter remained strong.
At the start of the hearing, Allegheny County Council president Patrick Catena acknowledged that the decision is effectively final, barring a reversal from DHS or the county executive. Council members said they learned about the closure when the public did. Council was not involved in negotiating DHS’s contract with shelter providers.
Catena warned attendees that the forum wasn’t the place to discuss the economic or business impacts of homelessness, but rather they should focus on how the county provides services and how those may shift moving forward.
County manager Jennifer Liptak estimated that of the 600 unique individuals who stayed at the Smithfield shelter in May, 125 stayed for an extended period of time. DHS pledged to help the most frequent users find temporary accommodations in overflow rooms at three other shelters (Second Avenue Commons, Light of Life Rescue Mission and East End Cooperative Ministries). Officials said they’ve already placed 60 people in shelters across the county.
But some speakers disputed the department’s numbers. Chase Archer Evans, who sits on the county’s Homeless Advisory Board and is homeless himself, noted that difficulties counting and tracking homeless people and other systemic barriers mean the county’s homeless population is likely being undercounted.
“All of our spaces are full. The brand new Second Avenue Commons filled up immediately. We don’t have enough places for all these people. We extended the usage of the Smithfield shelter because consistently, the numbers were well above capacity, and we just closed that. Where do we go? What do we do?” Evans asked. “125 inconsistent beds will never be enough.”
“Allegheny County Department of Human Services has agreed to prioritize 125 of the highest utilizers of that 600. The question council needs to be asking is: What about all the other people?” said Aubrey Plesh, the director of the Smithfield shelter.
Meanwhile, members of downtown’s business community voiced their support for the closure.
Visit Pittsburgh president and CEO Jerad Bechar and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership president and CEO Jeremy Waldrup told council that Smithfield can’t adequately meet the needs of the people it serves. They stressed the importance of wrap-around services, like day programs and job placements, and permanent housing.
Other commenters pushed back on the idea that closing the shelter would solve problems downtown.
“Where would the shutdown leave us? No place where the people with the greatest challenges will be welcomed. Homeless people in the streets, more likely to interact with all the police forces, more likely to end up in jail, more likely to die,” said Elizabeth Schongar. “The very businesspeople who are pushing this [closure] will find that this pushes people onto their doorsteps.”
Though many speakers recognized that Smithfield has some issues, they said closing it without a replacement or clear plans to offer additional services is concerning.
“If Smithfield closes, then I just know there are going to be a lot of people who don’t have a place to stay,” said Andrew Turner, a current resident.
