Pittsburgh community members gathered on the city\u2019s North Side on Friday to express frustration over the closure of a homeless outreach center on East Ohio Street.<\/p>\n
The Reaching Out On The Streets (ROOTS) Program drop-in center, located in the East Ohio Street business district, has served as a resource hub for unhoused individuals and others needing help with healthcare, mail and housing assistance.<\/p>\n
Resident Callie DiSabato said the shuttering of ROOTS will hurt some of Pittsburgh\u2019s most vulnerable community members, despite the city’s claims to assist those in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is kind of absurd to be saying we\u2019re not disrupting services because closing an on-site space is a massive disruption of services and now people don\u2019t have a space to go,” DiSabato said.<\/p>\n
The ROOTS program began as a pilot partnership between the city and Allegheny Health Network, before receiving funding for a major expansion in Dec. 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Pittsburgh\u2019s Department of Community Health and Safety received an $800,000 grant from Allegheny County to expand the ROOTS program. The funding, according to an announcement<\/a>, would allow ROOTS to bring on six new full-time employees and four part-time employees in order to expand their team coverage to seven days a week, including evenings and weekends.<\/p>\n