Connellsville looks to help people experiencing homelessness
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) — A small Fayette County town is seeing an influx of people experiencing homelessness, and authorities said it's stemming from drugs.
Mayor Greg Lincoln told KDKA-TV on Thursday that a few medical clinics have opened in Connellsville, bringing in those trying to end their addiction. But he said it's led to a new problem that could be hurting more than helping.
Lincoln said city officials are working to find solutions to help those in need as more people are coming to town but are left with no place to go once in Connellsville.
"Every day now with it being colder, our only option is to open up a warming center in town so we can have these individuals go to a safe place," Lincoln said.
He said hundreds of people are coming to Connellsville from neighboring states and counties to go to the medical clinics to seek help battling their addictions, but he said they're ending up on public and private properties, causing problems for residents and business owners.
"According to some of our business owners, they're saying that they're traveling from Ohio and West Virginia and hundreds of miles to come to Connellsville for, you know, to get suboxone scripts," Lincoln said. "They're coming on the FACT bus or coming here to be dropped off for their appointments and are left here all day, and that's some of the things that our police deal with on a daily basis. Once individuals get here, if they get rides or they get dropped off, they're here until somebody picks them up, or they don't ever pick them up, and then they there they become the problem of the city. Our business owners around these businesses have definitely suffered."
"I've seen urination on our building, urination on the other buildings, throwing all kinds of debris in the parking lot," Jamie Scarry, owner of O'Donnell's Pub.
Scarry said those coming to the clinics are loitering and parking in his parking lot, as well as neighboring business' parking lots.
"I get a nice family wanting to come in for dinner, and we got this car full of people that shouldn't be there," Scarry said. "It's very frustrating. And then we have to call the police. I think the police get frustrated, and it's just a vicious cycle."
Lincoln said others are ending up at local parks or at residents' homes.
"We had a female and it was actually in my neighborhood. She went on to one of my neighbor's back porches. This is 10 o'clock at night and stole a blanket and then a cushion and a pillow from the porch," Lincoln said. "It's sad that this is what this individual had to resort to, to have a warm spot to sleep for the night."
Lincoln said the city has a warming center that it can open to keep those out of the cold at night, but it is operated by volunteers at the senior living center. He said while that is a temporary option, he's hoping to open a drop-in center in the future that is staffed with licensed medical professionals in order to start helping those get the care they need.
"We have a lot of great big hearts here in town," Lincoln said. "We're not gonna just kind of turn our heads and act like it doesn't exist. We're going to hit it head-on and hopefully come up with a great solution that will help these individuals."
Lincoln said he is working with police, the city and county officials in order to tackle the issue in hopes to find ways to better address it.
If someone needs a warm place to stay, the senior center on East Fayette Street and McCormick Avenue is an option. Those who need assistance should reach out to Lincoln or Connellsville police.
