Gateway Center (Emergency Shelter) Admissions at 10-year High

For Immediate Release
6-30-2011

The Allentown Rescue Mission says it is experiencing a surge in the number of homeless people seeking services at its Emergency Shelter. The Mission operates the Gateway Center, a shelter for homeless men.

Although homelessness is not a cold weather problem, the public is usually more aware of homelessness when temperatures become life-threateningly cold. Still, the numbers of homeless men seeking help at the Mission generally drop a bit with the warmer weather, partly due the availability of seasonal employment, but that hasn’t happened this year.

“Our homeless shelter admissions are at a 10-year high,” says Gary Millspaugh, the Executive Director of the Allentown Rescue Mission. “In the past 12 months, 852 men have come for emergency shelter. Compared to the 12 months before that, of 733, the numbers are up 20%.”

Since the early 2000’s, the Mission served about 600 men per year, until they saw an increase to 722 men in 2009, and admissions have been rising ever since.

Those figures document unique or unduplicated individuals seeking assistance at the homeless shelter. Program Director Brian Phillips says that in addition to this increase, he has seen more men forced to seek assistance several times until they are able to “get back on their feet.” He explains that in the past, men would need temporary help from the Mission; they would find work, save their income, and then find permanent housing. The “working poor” who live paycheck to paycheck are more vulnerable to losing their housing. There’s no longer “a safety net,” says Phillips. There are fewer jobs available; if they are unable to maintain a position, they may return to the Mission, seeking service.

One of the main objectives of the Gateway Center is to encourage a man to enter a long-term program, if appropriate, to address and resolve issues which have contributed to his homelessness. For example, a man with a drug or alcohol addiction and a pattern of homelessness would be evaluated for drug and alcohol treatment. He may be referred to the Mission’s in-house, state-licensed drug and alcohol treatment program. However, Phillips states that there “has not been a spike in the number of drug addiction or mental illness cases.”