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In the aftermath of the city's recent shut down of red-tagged apartment buildings, advocates for the homeless are hoping to increase the supply of affordable rental housing, along with the number of landlords willing to rent to dislocated and struggling tenants.
People displaced by the city's Operation Safe Space have gone to hotels temporarily, but there isn't enough permanent rental housing in Altoona suitable for those and similar tenants, Brian Durbin, leader of the Hope for the Homeless group, said at a meeting Friday.
To deal with the housing shortfall, the city is trying to obtain ground for construction or a building or buildings that could be rehabilitated -- and there are efforts underway to generate cooperation among landlords, Durbin said.
The city would like to obtain a whole block, Durbin said.
"We need something with a lot of units," he said.
The city is also looking for development partners, he said, adding, "There's an incredible need."
Landlords' experiences with non-payment of rent following COVID-19 rent subsidy programs has led to landlord shortages and skittishness among those who remain in the business, Durbin said.
Accordingly, a program needs to be developed under which social service agencies can intervene in cases where tenant problems arise.
"If there is a level of concern regarding tenants, a line of communication with agencies" could reassure landlords and make them "comfortable" with renting to such tenants, Durbin said.
It will be critical to develop a tenant "mentoring" program, said community health worker Matt Wineland.
People moving from poverty to the working class to the middle class tend to need assistance in learning to "live by those rules" -- to learn the "life skills," Wineland said.
The isolation enforced by COVID shutdowns eroded some of those skills for many people, Wineland said.
A local agency that provided home nursing services used to provide life skill training, said Lisa Hann, executive director of Family Services Inc.
Such a program is needed again, she said.
Finding the funds to underwrite it could be a problem. "(But) you're exactly right about the frustration between landlord and tenant," Durbin said, addressing Wineland.
"I throw that challenge back to you (to start the program)," Durbin said.
One way to incentivize struggling or recently homeless tenants to take care of their homes may be to create a program analogous to Habitat for Humanity, in which they help build the housing -- generating "sweat equity," said H.O.P.E. Drop-In Center Executive Director Pam Townsend.
"Give them purpose and value," Townsend said.
Many homeless people have skills like carpentry and masonry that are going unused, she said.
Some recently displaced tenants have been rehoused in units overseen by a "notorious" real estate manager, which is a problem, according to Wineland.
The manager has had run-ins with tenants and tenants' relatives.
The manager in question is aware that he's being watched by the city and Blair County Community action, officials said.
City officials have discussed the situation with the out-of-town owners of the rental property which the manager oversees, said City Councilman Dave Ellis.
They didn't seem to realize the entirety of the situation, Ellis said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.