One of the wealthiest counties in Pennsylvania says it’s finally close to ending homelessness

After a relationship ended three years ago, Michael Thomas had to move out. He found himself homeless for the first time in his life.

Although he worked for a caterer, the work was seasonal and the income inconsistent. He bounced around friends’ homes, slept at a shelter in West Chester and warming centers in his native Phoenixville, stayed outside or in ATM alcoves for months, and lived at hotels when he could pull together enough money.

“Like a lot of people who experience homelessness for the first time, I was scared,” Thomas, 47, recalled. “I didn’t know where I was going to sleep, what I was going to eat, none of that.”

Then Thomas found the nonprofit Open Hearth, which aims to help residents of Chester and Montgomery Counties end the cycle of homelessness and become financially independent. He now rents an apartment with assistance from Chester County and works as a recovery specialist in West Chester, using his own experience with addiction and 10 years in prison to help others.

“God has been good, and I’ve worked hard with the support of a lot of programs,” Thomas said.

He’s one of hundreds who have moved off the streets over the last five years in the Philadelphia suburbs. Since 2011, Chester County officials and community organizations have been pouring time and money into reaching what is a lofty goal even for one of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest counties: ending chronic homelessness within 10 years.

Now, on the eve of 2020, Chester County’s self-imposed mid-2021 deadline is looming, as communities across the country struggle with the entrenched problem. According to federal guidelines accepted by advocates, ending homelessness means it is “rare, brief, and non-recurring.” The city of Lancaster and Bergen County, N.J., are two of only four communities in the United States formally recognized by the federal government for ending chronic homelessness. Bergen County was the first in 2017, following its own 10-year campaign.

“It’s a designation that’s pretty tough to get to,” said Patrick Bokovitz, director of the Chester County Department of Community Development. “We certainly feel with where we are now and some of the resources we have now, that we can achieve that 18 months out.”

Officials across the Philadelphia suburbs say more collaboration and coordination among county agencies, community groups, and nonprofits has made their work more efficient, and allowed them to house more residents and reduce barriers to housing. Typically in Chester County, about 10 men, five women, and five families at a time are either living in hotels using government or nonprofit assistance, or are living somewhere not suitable for habitation, Bokovitz said.

In Chester County’s latest move toward its goal, the county this month joined Montgomery and 55 other counties in using a statewide call center, PA 211, to connect people who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless to local housing and human services.

In Chester, Bucks, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, the total number of people classified as homeless during annual counts has dropped from about 2,100 in 2014 to roughly 1,500 in January 2019. Officials are anticipating another drop during next month’s count.

“I’ve never seen the momentum we have now,” said Stephanie Miller, who has worked at the United Way of Chester County for more than 14 years and is a senior director. “I feel like we’re on the brink of solving something that in our county shouldn’t be a problem.”