[NEWS] A ‘Hope’ Closed Off

From the Philadelphia Metro: 

Some of the city’s homeless received an unwelcome surprise in recent weeks to find that a social service center located in the Suburban Station concourse isn’t coming back.

“How would you feel if you got up at five, came down to the Hub and see this?” asked Carmena Green, a homeless outreach worker with Project HOME, outside the vacant storefront formerly occupied by “Hub of Hope.”

The Hub offered the homeless access to housing placement assistance, physicians, psychiatrists, and case managers, all inside a former beauty parlor just below 15th and JFK Boulevard. There were also new socks and cups of coffee.

“Folks on the street keep asking me, ‘What time you opening up?’ I just say, we’re working on it,” Green said.

The Hub operated from January to March for the past three winters, in response to a state report investigating new ways to provide services to the homeless who come to the concourse for warmth.