A North Side outreach center that closed at the start of the month will continue operating out of Second Avenue Commons near Downtown.<\/p>\n
The Reaching Out On The Streets Program (ROOTS) was operating as a drop-in center at 519 East Ohio St. until Oct. 2, providing supportive programs and outreach to unhoused individuals and others in need of aid.<\/p>\n
Last month, the city announced it would not be renewing the center\u2019s lease. <\/p>\n
The closure followed complaints from businesses on East Ohio Street about the center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current location\u2019s lease is up and the city decided to not renew it,\u201d said Laura Drogowski, assistant director of the Office of Community Health and Safety.<\/p>\n
Robert McAlister, a nurse at Central Outreach Wellness Center in Pittsburgh, said he and his staff had heard about complaints from nearby businesses, and believe they may have played a role in the center\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disheartening to see the needs of people experiencing homelessness treated as an inconvenience, especially when they already face so many barriers to accessing care and support,\u201d McAlister said.<\/p>\n
The ROOTS program was created in 2021 out of the Office of Community Health and Safety, which had been established just a year earlier. In 2022, the program received nearly $10 million in funding from a contract with Allegheny Health Network to expand the program.<\/p>\n
Drogowski said ROOTS will continue operating out of Second Avenue Commons, an emergency shelter beside the Allegheny County Jail near Downtown. <\/p>\n
\u201cROOTS is the largest program in the Office of Community Health & Safety,\u201d Drogowski said. \u201cStaff will continue to work in the community, at partner sites, at Second Avenue Commons and East End Cooperative Ministry, and at new sites as they are confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drogowski did not disclose where these additional hubs would be, but said when they are re-established people will be able to walk in during business hours.<\/p>\n
ROOTS staffers retained their positions despite the drop-in center\u2019s closure, and they continue to do community outreach, which includes directing people to their new headquarters, Drogowski said.<\/p>\n
McAlister is part of a team that worked with ROOTS to help patients access housing referrals, ID vouchers, benefits paperwork, specialized services and basic necessities like Wi-Fi and phone charging. ROOTS was also a place where patients could take shelter from harsh elements, McAlister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the closure, our interactions with ROOTS have been less frequent, and connecting patients to services has become more difficult,\u201d McAlister said. \u201cWe can still direct people to Second Avenue Commons or provide contact information to the ROOTS team, but we\u2019ve lost the ability for patients to directly access those resources on the North Side.\u201d<\/p>\n
McAlister added the distance to Second Avenue Commons can be a \u201csignificant obstacle\u201d for people who have to walk or who lack access to a phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cTasks like getting paperwork for medical or SNAP benefits now may require traveling across the city, and upcoming Medicaid changes could add further challenges,\u201d McAlister said.<\/p>\n
In June, the ROOTS program received an $800,000 grant to expand its outreach.<\/p>\n
Drogowski said the majority of funds \u2014 approximately $650,000 \u2014 will be dedicated to staffing, while $100,000 will provide for the purchase of two vehicles.<\/p>\n
The remaining money has been split between operational supplies and transportation assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cROOTS works to find a way,\u201d Drogowski said.<\/p>\n
McAlister said a solution would have to involve reinstating drop-in centers on the North Side, South Side and the Hill District.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the city wants to improve access for people experiencing homelessness, more neighborhood locations are needed,\u201d McAlister said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A North Side outreach center that closed at the start of the month will continue operating out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-309748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}