Montgomery County asks Pottstown to back zoning variance to use Days Inn as temporary homeless shelter

Montgomery County officials asked the Pottstown Borough Council on March 5 to support a zoning variance that would allow the county to use the Days Inn at 61 West King Street as a temporary hoteling program to house people experiencing homelessness. The zoning hearing board will consider the county's application on March 26, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the council meeting room; council scheduled an executive session after the March 5 meeting to discuss the application and the borough solicitor said the item will be listed for potential action at the council meeting on March 10.

The county's director of commerce, Steve Forster, said the commissioners have committed "millions of dollars" and an interdepartmental task force to the project and described the effort as part of a broader push to reach "functional zero" homelessness in Montgomery County. Forster said the county has signed a lease for 62 units at the Days Inn with an initial six-month term and nine additional six-month renewal options, a total potential term of five years. Opportunity House and the Switchpoint Foundation are named partners; Opportunity…