Stories From The Archives: Hope From Underground
During our 35th anniversary year, we are digging into our deep archives to share stories from our past that highlight some of the many milestones we have celebrated over our nearly four decades of service to Philadelphia.
The Hub of Hope began in January 2011 as part of the Philadelphia Winter Initiative—a city wide program to open more spaces during the coldest months of the year. The Hub opened each winter from January through April for a few hours each day. An important purpose of the Hub of Hope was to meet the City’s most vulnerable residents where they were—namely, in the Suburban Station Concourse. The original Hub of Hope was roughly 900 square feet, located in a former salon store front. In the summer of 2017, Project HOME began conversations with SEPTA and the City of Philadelphia, and six months later, the Hub opened as a year-round program on January 31, 2018 in a new, 11,000 square-foot space in the concourse.
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Every year, particularly during the colder months, Philadelphia's underground subway and train concourse functions as an alternative to shelter for many persons experiencing street homelessness. The vast network of subway tunnels and pedestrian areas under Center City and City Hall that make up the concourse provided refuge to over 200 people last winter, and projections expect even more people to stay there this winter. The majority are chronically homeless and often have special needs including mental illness, substance abuse, and/or physical disabilities as well as other barriers. Many are hesitant to go into the shelter system for a variety of reasons, which makes access to services more difficult.
So, the creative solution: bring the services to where the people are. That's the vision behind the Hub of Hope. Housed in a vacant storefront in Suburban Station, the Hub is a drop-in center where folks staying in the concourse can come to make connections to caring people and supportive services. The Hub, which started in early January, is open late at night and early in the morning during the week. Those who come in have access to an experienced and collaborative team of service providers working to establish rapport with individuals while providing unprecedented levels of integrated services including addiction counseling, linkage to certified peer specialists and recovery coaches, case management, physical and behavioral health services, and facilitated access to housing and treatment.
The Hub of Hope is staffed through a multi-agency partnership including staff from Project HOME, the City of Philadelphia, the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Public Health Management Corporation, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, and others. To facilitate housing placements we are partnering with the Student Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia (SREHUP) and Arch Street United Methodist Church who are providing "stabilization beds" where individuals have a place to stay while transitioning toward long-term housing placements. We have strategic partnerships with the City of Philadelphia and housing providers including Pathways to Housing PA, Bethesda Project, Horizon House, Catholic Social Services, and others, which allows us to target permanent housing placements for this especially vulnerable population.
After just a few weeks, it is clear that many chronically homeless persons are accepting services they had previously declined or that had been unavailable. The welcoming environment of the Hub, with hot coffee, snacks, and caring staff and volunteers, has prompted them to take concrete steps toward getting off the streets. On any given night, guests are agreeing to see a health professional about their medical needs, get a psychiatric evaluation, or discuss housing placements and case management. Just as importantly, a sense of dignity, hope, and possibility is taking root among many persons who have suffered from much alienation and dehumanization.
Anthony Logan, who has been homeless for almost three decades, agreed to come into the Hub and found opportunities to make dramatic changes in his life, including pursuing education goals. "The services are offered here, but you have to take advantage of them," he says. He now spends time there every night volunteering and encouraging others, because, as he says, "I want to give back.'
None of this would be possible without a wide-ranging collaboration from many committed people and agencies. In addition to the service providers mentioned above, we are grateful to Steve Perna of PernaFrederick Commercial Real Estate for his leadership and team building with Crown Properties, Inc. to help us secure the storefront. Thanks also to Bill Hankowsky and Liberty Property Trust for their valuable support. The wonderful crew from Urban Outfitters generously donated and installed curtains, fabrics, and decorations to make the Hub a place of comfort and hope. Both City and SEPTA police and staff have also been valuable partners, helping identify concourse dwellers and providing support and safety.
This creative pilot program is the first phase of an ambitious plan to find appropriate supportive housing for up to 300 of the City's most vulnerable long-term street homeless individuals over the next 18 months. We are undertaking this project - and the larger plan - with the daring hope that even in economically and politically challenging times, we can make dramatic strides toward ending chronic street homelessness in Philadelphia.
But, as we have learned many times over the past two decades, where there is hope, great things can happen.
