Westmoreland homeless count reveals growing shelter needs

Westmoreland officials said a study conducted Thursday morning identified 25 people across the county who were classified as homeless.

It’s a number that is believed to be only a fraction of the true scope of homelessness in Westmoreland County.

“We know that if we’re finding people there are definitely more. There are places we didn’t get to where unsheltered people stay such as in rundown houses, in cars, in tents and other inhabitable locations,” said Lori Wiester, program manager with Westmoreland County’s Department of Human Services.

The annual audit of homelessness is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Workers crisscrossed Westmoreland County, concentrating on locations along the Route 30 corridor between Irwin and Greensburg, Derry, New Stanton, Mt. Pleasant, New Kensington and Monessen, to look for people out in the weather and without shelter on one of the coldest mornings of the year.

No homeless persons were identified during counts conducted in 2023 and 2024, so county officials expanded the effort this year.

In previous years the county conducted its count for just two hours at night. It visited more locations and for a longer period of time, over more than six hours, early Thursday morning.

“This can make a difference in the funding we get and gives us something to advocate for,” Wiester said.

Westmoreland officials previously said the county has 154 shelter beds available for homeless residents.

Local leaders in recent years have acknowledged the county’s homeless community is underserved. A 12-bed expansion of the Union Mission in Latrobe’s shelter is expected to open in February. County officials also allocated funds from a federal grant for an expansion of a new project to expand a shelter in New Stanton.

It’s not enough, according to Union Mission Director Dan Carney, who said the county’s homeless population is significantly larger than the 25 people identified Thursday morning.

“This is a difficult time of the year to get accurate results. A lot of our folks are living in cars or in parking lots, in abandoned houses and properties or in tents. We can’t get to all of those places,” Carney said. “The number is a lot bigger, but the count shows that the county is getting smarter in how it is approaching this problem.”

Wiester said volunteers visited gas stations, parks and wandered throughout neighborhoods to look for those in unsheltered conditions.

Volunteers offered coats, blankets, gloves and food to those they encountered. Most of the people contacted refused to be interviewed and declined to accept supplies, she said.

Carney said that according to recent data, there has been a 41% increase in shelter usage in Westmoreland County over the last two years.

While finding a relatively small number of homeless people during one specific point-in-time survey, officials said the results are no surprise and are an indication that more shelter space is needed.

“We recognize Westmoreland County has a need for expanding our shelter services,” Carney said. “This count means we’re getting better at outreach and doesn’t capture the full picture. But, it says our homeless response system is tapped out and if there were places for them to go they would likely get there.”