Allegheny County trying to find housing for more than 100 people after closing Smithfield shelter

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegheny County just gave itself one month to find housing for more than 100 people who are homeless. The plan is to close the Smithfield shelter in June.

Some of the business owners nearby say this is welcome news. One business owner said not a person come in all afternoon. But the people who are currently staying at the Smithfield shelter said they honestly don't know where they're going to go.

Randolph Chechak says he's only at the shelter because there's nowhere else.

"I was living with a family member, and they got stressed out, so I left and ended up down here last week because this is the only facility that had a bed available," Chechak said. 

He's one of more than 100 people staying at the shelter inside the Smithfield United Church of Christ. It's an emergency shelter the county says is usually only open from November until March. 

"Given the needs this year, we've kept it open a little bit longer so that we could plan to have spots for people to shelter," said Erin Dalton, the director of the Allegheny County Department Of Human Services.

Dalton says the shelter is closing for a few reasons: The building isn't equipped for safe summer habitation, a desire to shelter people closer to home and a need to alleviate the strain on downtown's resources.

KDKA-TV asked Dalton if she thinks the county will find new housing for everyone by the end of June. 

"Yeah, we do. We do believe we have enough spaces already in the continuum and expansion to support those 100 to 125 people that are staying there with any regularity," she said. 

Community organizer Tanisha Long with the Abolitionist Law Center doesn't see it. 

"I understand the nature of finding housing for unhoused people is expensive and it takes a while to set it up. That doesn't mean that you take away working solutions while you try to figure it out," Long said. 

The county plans to use Allegheny Link to place all of these people in new housing, but Chechak says it's not working for him. 

"Talked to a gentleman from there, he's a coordinator. And he got my name, phone number, explained to me he could help getting me into Plum Wood if possible and I called him like 20 times, left messages, sent emails, sent the application and I've heard nothing back from them," he said. 

The county is confident it will get this done but wants people to continue to reach out to the resources, including Allegheny Link.