This year brought many changes for the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which creates affordable housing for homeless individuals across the country. As 57 of Greene County’s housing units are funded through HUD, these changes affect the county and surrounding areas, according to Karen Bennett, administrator of Greene County Human Services.

Amy Switalski, director of Greene County Housing and Family Resources said one of the significant changes HUD made official Jan. 23 is that housing programs are now required to use a coordinated assessment for every homeless individual found. 

These new regulations require 20 counties to work together through a countywide group called the Western Continuum of Cares with the goal of placing the homeless into a shelter. Each homeless person found in any of those 20 counties is placed on a list prioritized by need.

“It’s a very long process because you’re hitting a list that can have 400 and some people on it and you have to go from top to bottom,” said Switalski, “So you’re likely not hitting someone from your own county.” 

The process of placing someone into housing can take weeks or even months, as each person on the list is given three days to accept housing after they are contacted about their needs. If that person is not from the county with the housing option, they are usually not interested in it, as they would have to move counties, forcing them to leave their connections.

“The whole idea was to make sure there were no openings in the 20 counties, and that people could go anywhere to make sure everything’s filled, but it’s not working out that way,” said Switalski. “We have plenty of people who need to be placed, but it’s just hard to place them.”

An unforeseen consequence these major changes have caused is that homeless shelters in three counties are shutting down. Shelters in Westmoreland and Washington counties closed down last year, and the one in Fayette County is now scheduled to close April 30. Bennett said they are closing due to a change in HUD funding priorities. 

According to Switalski, when the shelter in Fayette County closes, the nearest shelter to Greene County will be an hour and a half away. Switalski and Bennett agree that this change will make it more difficult for them to place people into potential housing options.

“That makes it very difficult to help and assist our housing population,” said Bennett. “We all are hurting because of the homeless shelters closing.”

To address the problem of limited sources and funding, Greene County Housing writes grant proposals to bring money into the county, Bennett said. 

“It’s just a little mandate to help with the situation,” said Switalski.