.png)
Local cooperation from municipal governments is a crucial part of the solution, if Montgomery County is going to successfully respond to spiraling housing costs and homelessness.
That was one message conveyed by Democratic Commissioners Jamila Winder and Neil Makhija during last Thursday’s public meeting, held during the evening at Limerick Township’s municipal hall. A majority of the meeting’s two-hour run time was dedicated to public comment, which included an exchange between Commissioner Winder and a leader of the Lower Providence opposition movement that protested supportive housing near the Eagleville Hospital.
“My goal….is that every municipality plays a role in lifting their most vulnerable friends and neighbors up because it’s not just drug addicts and criminals that are ending up on the street,” Winder said. “A lot of our friends and neighbors are just one paycheck away from not being able to pay the rent.”
Her comment was in response to Keir Maloney, of Lower Providence, who asked the board who gets to decide whether a municipality meets its “fair share” or “quota” of affordable housing. Maloney was one of the more vocal opponents of Genny’s Place, arguing that his township already has a correctional facility and drug addiction recovery center on the grounds of Eagleville.
Last month, the Lower Providence Board of Supervisors tabled the 60-bed proposal, which leaves the project’s future in limbo. Meanwhile, the applicant – Resources for Human Development – was recently acquired by a larger social service organization, Inperium, Inc.
Commissioner Thomas DiBello, a Limerick resident, called housing and homelessness complex issues on which he has spent a lot of time gathering perspectives and facts since taking office in January. While agreeing with most of Winder’s earlier statement, DiBello said “one could argue” that Lower Providence has done its fair share.
Photo courtesy of Montgomery County. (From left: Commissioners Makhija, Winder, and DiBello)
One of the messages used by opponents of Genny’s Place called into question whether RHD would accept “illegal immigrants” and sex offenders into their community housing (RHD responded with a fact sheet and multiple media interviews).
Commissioner Makhija, also in his first year with the county, noted during his opening comments that if everyone thinks the unhoused are not “from here,” then there is nowhere for them to go.
“How do we support those municipalities and townships that are doing something?” he asked.
The View from Pottstown
A few miles down Ridge Pike and High Street is a tent city near Montgomery County Community College. With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to issue a ruling this summer on a pivotal case (Grants Pass) related to homelessness, Pottstown Borough officials have paused any punitive actions against the campers. Sheila Dugan, proprietor of Grumpy’s Sandwiches on High Street, told the commissioners that homeless individuals solicit her customers. She added that one person broke into their car and “stole thousands” from their eatery.
Meanwhile, Pottstown resident Doug Slick pointed out that many unhoused people work – some of them two jobs. He has helped organize cleanups of the encampment off College Drive, in collaboration with the Deviators and other community members.
“Housing first works,” Slick said, adding that any city or town that has tried to solve homelessness without taking this approach has failed.
Tara Vasko, of Lower Pottsgrove, asked why abandoned commercial and municipal buildings can’t be part of the housing solution. Another resident, whose name was not audible on the recording, said more eviction diversion would help reduce the need for rehousing programs. Last week, Philadelphia City Council signaled that it would likely make permanent a pandemic-era eviction prevention program that emphasizes mediation and financial assistance.
Big Picture
In their first year together as a governing board, it remains to be seen which policy options the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners will choose for their constituents who are increasingly housing-cost-burdened (about half spend more than 30 percent of income on housing; many of whom are not eligible for safety net programs like SNAP). In Montgomery County, an estimated 74,000 households are living above the poverty line but below the actual cost of living in our county.
For Winder, economic development and progressive housing policies are not mutually exclusive.
“(We can) protect revitalization in places like Pottstown and Norristown, and provide programming to lift up our most vulnerable,” she said.
The next commissioners meeting is Thursday, June 6, at 10 a.m. in Norristown. Additional evening meetings "on the road" are planned, according to a county spokesperson, but dates are not finalized.
Comments