For the first time since 2022, Montgomery County has a chance to regain a year-round homeless shelter next year after county commissioners voted Thursday to approve funding and sign an agreement to implement the plan.
On Thursday morning, county commissioners voted to adopt a $244 million capital improvement budget for 2025, which includes funding for a homeless shelter, and to approve a lease for the Lansdale shelter site.
The county board also approved a $610 million general fund budget that includes a 9% enhance in property taxes for residents following larger increases in Delaware and Chester counties earlier this month.
The shelter will be the first year-round shelter in the county since the Norristown Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center closed in 2022. The county currently funds several Code Blue shelters that offer overnight stays when temperatures or wind chills drop below freezing.
Before the unanimous 3-0 vote, Commissioners Chair Jamila Winder called the project a “monumental step forward” toward ending homelessness in the county and said the project could reduce the number of homeless people on Lansdale’s streets by up to 75%. .
“We’re talking about truly life-saving work,” said Winder, a Democrat.
The project is a partnership between the county and the Borough of Lansdale and is part of a broader effort by Montgomery County to dramatically enhance its shelter resources over the next five years.
The county’s 2025 modernization budget allocates $2 million for homeless shelters and outlines a plan to spend a total of $10 million on the project over the next five years.
Earlier this year, officials counted 435 people living on the streets of Montgomery County, the highest number in a decade outside 2022. when the Norristown shelter closed. But efforts in recent years to improve services and affordable housing in the affluent county, including a proposed affordable housing intricate in Upper Gwynedd, have been met with fierce community opposition.
The proposed Lansdale project is estimated to cost $1.3 million, with funding coming from a $2 million shelter allocation in the county’s capital improvement budget.
The Lansdale facility is expected to house 20 to 25 people, and county officials say they hope to open it in the first half of 2025. While existing Code Blue shelters only offer short-term overnight shelter services, the Lansdale shelter would provide transitional, longer-term housing perspective. Winder said housing would be provided for people experiencing homelessness in the borough.
B.J. Breish, a Lansdale council member who supported the project, said the center’s approval represents a “pivotal moment” in the fight against homelessness in the county where “what once seemed impossible is now within reach.”
Commissioner Tom DiBello, a Republican, voted with his Democratic colleagues to approve the bill; however, he insisted that a member of Resources for Human Development – the group that will oversee the facility – confirm that the accommodation would be momentary and not be used for lasting residence.
In an interview Wednesday, Winder said she hopes the project will encourage other local governments to work with the county on similar shelters.
“This will be a role model for other municipalities because you can set up a homeless shelter in your municipality to help the most vulnerable among us while still having a thriving and safe community,” she said.
Winder said the lack of year-round transitional housing options in Montgomery County has led to an enhance in encampments throughout the community. She said the county has had difficulty getting full-time shelters up and running, in part because of municipalities’ reluctance to provide shelters within their borders.
“Anyone who has followed the complexities of creating homeless shelters in any area knows that it is consistent with NIMBYism,” she said.
Meanwhile, commissioners broke 2-1 in their vote on the general fund budget, which included a tax enhance. Winder and fellow Democrat Neil Makhija supported the package, while DiBello expressed no opposition.
» READ MORE: Chester County commissioners vote to enhance property taxes by 13% despite opposition from residents
All three commissioners voted unanimously to approve the capital fund budget.
The tax increases are sure to shock any community, and some concerned residents expressed their protest against the package ahead of Thursday’s vote.
“It’s really hard on taxpayers,” Montgomery County resident Barbara Furman said during public comment. “Where are the places where we can save money? Maybe we can cut something from the budget.
Makhija described the budget as a combination of “critical investments… and a lot of savings.” He said the budget would reduce by at least $3 million operating costs, including equipment, utilities and travel costs, as well as refinancing previous bond issues.
The new tax rate will be 5.642 mills per $1,000 of assessed property value.
“This has been difficult, but we have promises we will keep and commitments we have made to the community,” Winder said before the vote.
“I know I personally wanted to try to go the other way when it came to tax increases, but ultimately we kicked the can down the road when it comes to some of the future challenges we face.”
Adjustment: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the group that oversees the housing center. The organization is called Human Development Resources.
