Representatives of New Journey Community Outreach and the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness are urging City Council to support the creation of a low-barrier daytime resource center that could help improve quality of life downtown.
Speaking Monday during council’s committee of the whole meeting, Christie Botterbusch, executive director of New Journey, said the city has strong overnight shelter providers but lacks a place where people experiencing homelessness can safely go during the day to access basic services, medical care and case management.
Many shelters require residents to leave during the day, Botterbusch said, while others have eligibility requirements that exclude some of the most vulnerable people. As a result, people often spend hours on downtown streets because they have nowhere else to go.
“Where do you go?” Botterbusch asked. “You go downtown, you go to Penn Street. You hang around.”
A day center would reduce the visible impacts of homelessness, she said, not by pushing people elsewhere but by giving them a place to spend the day where they could shower, do laundry, receive medical care, meet with case managers, store belongings and connect with housing, recovery and other support services that could move them toward long-term stability.
Headquartered in a former church at 138 S. Sixth St., New Journey is already offering some of the needed services.
The nonprofit provides about 400 meals each weekday, operates a client-choice food pantry, offers resource navigation and hosts services including Tower Health’s Street Medicine program.
New Journey’s partnership with Street Medicine resulted in about 1,100 clinic appointments last year, she said, including 231 emergency room diversions valued at more than $500,000. The organization also served as a daytime warming center during Code Blue this past winter, assisting 209 individuals and providing more than 8,500 breakfasts and dinners through funding that included city support.
Botterbusch illustrated the organization’s approach by sharing the story of a man battling social anxiety and addiction who initially came only for lunch. Gradually he became a volunteer, re-entered addiction treatment after relapsing and now has housing and a job while continuing to volunteer.
“Our work is not linear,” she said. “Sometimes you’ll have a couple steps forward and maybe one step back, and that is OK.”
Many people remain unsheltered, she said, not because they refuse help but because existing shelters have eligibility requirements or capacity limits. Some require identification, county residency, sobriety or participation in programs, while others cannot accommodate pets, couples or certain families.
“The infrastructure doesn’t exist for them to access help,” she said.
Christie Botterbusch, executive director of New Journey Community Outreach, stands in the dining area at 138 S. Sixth St. The soup kitchen, food pantry and clothes outreach hopes to expand as a designated day center, serving Berks County’s unhoused population. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)
Lisa McCauley, assistant director of the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness, said homelessness in Berks County increased by at least 8% over the past year while rents for two-bedroom apartments rose 24%.
She said 78% of people experiencing homelessness in the county are doing so for the first time and that many who seek shelter are turned away because beds are full.
“A day center gives people a place to access services and really connect,” McCauley said.
She noted that the coalition’s recently completed communitywide plan to end homelessness identified a daytime resource center as one of its major recommendations. Such a center could provide showers, restrooms, mail service, laundry facilities and centralized access to case managers, health care providers and other support services.
Botterbusch said New Journey hopes to establish an expanded designated facility to help fill that need. The nonprofit estimates renovating a building would cost about $2.7 million and is pursuing a combination of grants, foundation support and private fundraising.
She pointed to similar drop-in centers operating successfully in Lancaster, York and Allentown, noting they have helped reduce daytime street homelessness while connecting people to services.
Council members voiced support for the proposal while asking about funding, safety and program outcomes.
Councilman Jaime Baez Jr. thanked the organization for serving people with compassion and asked how a low-barrier center would maintain safety.
Botterbusch said low-barrier does not mean “no rules” but rather removing unnecessary obstacles that prevent people from engaging with services.
City Managing Director Jack Gombach said the city recognizes the need for such a resource center and has seen the same gap through its own services.
“We’re very appreciative for everything you guys have done in Code Blue,” Gombach said. “There’s absolutely a gap.”
He added that the city looks forward to continuing its partnership with New Journey to serve Reading’s most vulnerable residents.