Work on Reading women’s shelter begins

• Anthony Orozco
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Anthony Orozco was the Latino communities reporter for WITF.

A project to house women in need is underway in Reading after two years of COVID-19 pandemic delays.

Elected leaders, representatives of churches and advocates for homeless women applauded the groundbreaking of LightHouse Women & Children’s Shelter.

“Now, we talk about timing from a human perspective. We’re way off timing. This project should have begun a couple of years ago,” Berks County Commissioner Chair Christian Leinbach said during a groundbreaking ceremony at the North 6th street site Tuesday. “But one thing that I’ve learned is, God’s timing isn’t always our timing, and God doesn’t make any mistakes.”

The project’s price tag grew by $2 million as construction costs inflated over the past two years, according to Kate Alley, executive director of the forthcoming LightHouse Women & Children’s Shelter.

But despite the pandemic, the nonprofit was able to secure federal money and build community awareness around the issue of homelessness and evictions.

Berks County has committed nearly $1 million and Mayor Eddie Moran’s administration has suggested giving the project around $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act federal funding, according to Alley.

Since some funding that assists people in need of homes is winding down, Alley said the shelter is needed more than ever.

“Last winter, the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness housed over 200 individuals and families and local hotels with funding provided by the COVID-19 American Rescue Plan,” Alley said. “Two weeks ago, I received an email from the coalition that that funding is gone.”

“They anticipate the need for shelter, (and) emergency shelter to be higher than the current capacity in all our community shelters,” Alley added. “That means that we can’t get the Lighthouse built soon enough.”

The $5 million facility will provide 43 rooms and house up to 125 women and girls who are facing a housing crisis. It is slated to open in the spring, Alley said.

The shelter is also getting support through in-kind donations from Ethosource Furniture, based in Morgantown. The company is donating a portion of the furniture in the shelter and is also donating all of the decorations.

“When this project is completed, we will be one giant step closer to fulfilling our dream to create an environment of safety, dignity and compassion for women to be able to get back on their feet after experiencing the trauma of being homeless,” Alley said.

The project’s organizers are transforming a 25,000-square-foot former thrift store owned and operated by the Hope Rescue Mission men’s homeless shelter, which is next door to the site.

Hope Rescue Mission has served homeless men of Berks County since 1894 and offers several residential programs that help men work their way through to transition back into the community as independent individuals.

Democratic state Sen Judy Schwank praised the work of elected leaders to help get the project off the ground.

“This is exactly the way a healthy community, a good community, helps to lift everyone up person by person, institution by institution, with some government help,” Schwank said. “And kudos to our commissioners and to our mayor and city council for the work that they’re doing and helping to invest funds in these types of efforts.”