Calvary Church, located at 1062 Pennsylvania Ave. in Tyrone, has plans to create transitional housing units for homeless people along the downtown block. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

TYRONE – A church’s plan to create transitional housing units for homeless people has come under fire as Tyrone residents and business owners cite safety concerns and other issues as reasons the project should not move forward.

La Coiffure Salon owner Crystal Simmons said she will relocate her business if Calvary Church’s plans to purchase the three buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue come to fruition. The buildings house about 15 apartments above her salon and several other storefronts.

Simmons said safety, for her clients and employees, is her main problem with the plan, but she also cited financial concerns for the borough and the Tyrone Area School District, adding the school would lose tax revenue if the church owned the properties, which occupy nearly an entire block in the downtown area.

There aren’t many blocks for businesses to set up shop in downtown Tyrone, Simmons said, adding it doesn’t make sense to allow transitional housing in an area officials are trying to revitalize.

“To have a tax-free entity own 20% of your downtown is insane from a financial perspective for the borough,” Simmons said. “It’s a lot of money missing in a town that is already struggling.”

The plan is not a done deal, as the church is trying to raise the funds to buy the properties and others are interested in purchasing the buildings, now that the church’s plans have been made public, said Bill Ewing, the church’s gathering pastor.

Plan would require zoning hearing

Even if the church is able to purchase the properties, there would still need to be a change-of-use zoning hearing in order to allow for transitional housing, Tyrone Borough Code Enforcement Officer Stephen Hanzir said.

Hanzir said officials have looked into the matter because they know it’s potentially in the works. But until the properties are sold, there’s nothing they can do about the situation, he added.

“We haven’t really dug into it too much since (a sale has) not happened yet,” Hanzir said. “It probably will end up needing some kind of hearing to change it into something that would be transitional housing.”

Should a hearing take place, it will be advertised and open for the public to solicit feedback, Hanzir said.

Church outlines plan

Ewing said he approached the property owners several years ago to see whether they would be interested in selling the buildings.

The church’s intention, he said, is to keep the current apartment tenants and storefront businesses, which includes the hair salon; Tam’s Treasures, a furniture and antique store; and Main Moon, a Chinese restaurant.

The church plans to use vacant apartments as transitional housing. Those in the program would be vetted, Ewing said, noting people would have to demonstrate their need for assistance and show progress toward becoming productive and contributing members of the community.

The apartments would not be used to house active drug addicts, Ewing stressed.

“If anything, we’re connecting (people in need of rehabilitation services) with resources that we are aware of in Altoona,” he said.

A misconception Ewing has heard is that the church is helping homeless people from Johnstown and the Philadelphia areas.

The majority of people the church helps – through initiatives like its free meal program – have ties to Tyrone, Ewing said.

“I’ve never met anyone who’s homeless yet who’s from Philadelphia, so that’s not true. Those are not facts; those are opinions,” he said, adding the church’s congregation is called to love their neighbors, not live in fear of them.

Concerns addressed

Ewing said he’s reached out to several tenants to discuss their concerns, namely about seeing people they’re afraid of around the church.

“From my understanding, there’s not been any criminal activity (near the church),” Ewing said. “There’s just concerns of seeing all of these individuals there.”

Simmons said Ewing may have talked with others about their concerns, but he hasn’t reached out to her yet.

“I don’t think there’s much he could say to change my mind on it,” she said, emphasizing that she doesn’t have an issue with what the church is trying to do, but rather the location they want to use.

Simmons said she’s already lost clientele and employees over safety concerns, noting there was a man this past summer who walked up and down the street yelling at people and sometimes screaming at nobody. She believes he was receiving help at the church.

She’s also had people come into her shop to wait for the church to open, though they weren’t customers.

“Last summer, I had people coming in here that weren’t clients coming in and being like, ‘Hey, I’m just going to come in and sit and enjoy your air conditioning until the church opens,'” Simmons said.

“Although it doesn’t scare me personally, it has scared some of my clientele away already because they’re afraid to leave their car parked out front,” she said. “I lost an employee due to it as well.”

Simmons said at least six of Tyrone’s downtown businesses are women-owned, and many business owners feel unsafe when leaving their stores at night.

“When you’re downtown at night by yourself and then you have a bunch of strange people roaming around that you don’t know, it feels unsafe,” Simmons said.

A representative of Main Moon, the nearby Chinese restaurant, said employees there had no comment on the matter.

Attempts to reach

outgoing Mayor William Latchford or outgoing borough council Vice President David Snyder for comment were not successful.

Looking for a positive impact

Mayor-elect John Harlow said he urges people to contact the Tyrone Borough Police Department if they see something suspicious happening.

“There’s a few things that have happened where people just don’t want to be bothered about (reporting) it. You have to report it so there is a paper trail of things that are happening,” Harlow said.

Ewing said there’s never been a single incident at the church in which the Tyrone Borough Police Department had to be called for safety or security purposes.

He said the church has “a great relationship” with the borough’s police officers, who have reportedly commended the church’s free meal program.

Ewing stressed the church’s motive is to love people because “Christ loved us first.”

“The reality is we’re all in this boat together. There’s none of us who haven’t fallen short or been in a difficult situation where we needed help,” Ewing said. “We’re not looking to give anyone a free ride. We’re looking to give people a hand up – not a hand out.”

Calvary Church has been in downtown Tyrone for

10 years, Ewing said, adding the problem of homelessness in the area was treated superficially or ignored altogether before the church stepped up to help.

His plan is to leave the community better than he found it.

“I believe we are doing what is needed to do that,” Ewing said. “I can promise that we will do our best to make sure that this has a positive impact on our community.”

Tyrone growing

Harlow said “Tyrone is going to start growing again.”

“We’ve got a good borough council that’s coming in,” he said, adding officials are going to put a strategic plan together to figure out ways to improve the borough.

But it’s going to take time for officials to make progress, Harlow said.

He thinks the church is doing a good thing by providing meals for people who don’t have food, but he doesn’t support the church’s expansion plans for transitional housing.

“It’s not something that needs to be in the historic downtown business district,” Harlow said. “Would you want to run a salon with a homeless shelter over top of it?”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.