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Mayor says city accounted for funding as Keystone Mission closes; homelessness response under coordination
Summary
Mayor George Brown told council the city funded construction and staffing associated with a shelter program and that multiple agencies are coordinating to place people after Keystone Mission’s closure, but officials said they still do not know how many people remain to be placed.
Wilkes-Barre’s mayor told the city council on July 10 that the city had accounted for funding used to support a facility associated with Keystone Mission and that multiple local agencies are coordinating an emergency response after Keystone Mission shut down. Mayor George Brown said the city paid roughly $224,000 to convert a warehouse into a facility with offices, showers and night-time sleeping capacity and separately paid $109,000 to Keystone Mission for staffing the shelter for one year. “The other 109,000 did go to Keystone Mission that we gave them, but that was to supply a place to go for homeless people 7 nights a week,” Brown said. He added that the $224,000 was paid to the building owner to construct the facility. Brown said local service providers and government agencies have met to discuss next steps: “Jennifer from CEO called a meeting to address what's gonna happen to the homeless people as Keystone Mission shuts down. And what we did was it was Jennifer from CEO. It was people from the county. I attended the meeting. People from Salvation Army, from Mother Teresa's Haven... and also from Volunteers of America.” Despite the meetings, the mayor said the city had not yet determined how many people required placement after Keystone Mission’s closure. “We still do not know how many people still have to be placed,” he said. The mayor said Keystone Mission had not attended follow-up meetings to identify remaining clients and the city is awaiting that information. Council members and residents raised concerns about service continuity and winter shelter capacity; no new funding appropriation or emergency ordinance was adopted at the July 10 meeting. The mayor said the city has contacted state congressional offices to express concern about federal grant funding uncertainty (including HUD and FEMA BRIC) but provided no further commitments pending additional interagency discussion and numbers on people needing shelter.
