NEW CASTLE Mentally ill to get drop-in center and housing

Housing for low-income, chronically mentally ill people will be provided.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The rubbish was piled so high at 301 Highland Ave. that the third-floor staircase wasn't visible.
Today the rubbish is gone and that home, along with five others on Grant Street, is undergoing a transformation that will change housing for low-income, chronically mentally ill people in Lawrence County, said Roger Smith, director of community services for the Human Service Center of New Castle.
The homes, all dating to the early 1900s, are between Highland and North Mercer streets and had become a hodgepodge of run-down rentals and abandoned properties taken over by homeless people, he said.
Funding: The Human Services Center is spending slightly more than $1 million renovating the buildings into offices and housing. It will be paid for by a mix of loans and government and private grants.
First National Bank of Pennsylvania presented HSC director Dennis Nebel with a $300,000 check Wednesday to help with the work as part of a low-interest loan.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, a consortium of banks that helps underwrite loans and projects in three states, also gave HSC $60,000 from its Affordable Housing Grant Program.
John Bendel, director of community investment, said the FHLB gives away 10 percent of its yearly earnings to programs in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware. The Human Service Center project ranked first out of 79 applications for grants they received earlier this year, he said.
"We see many projects. Most are very good, but this was the cream of the crop," Bendel said.
Smith explained that 301 Highland Ave. is being renovated into a drop-in center for the chronically mentally ill who have little to do during the day. Activities and meals will be provided.
Co-op apartments: The upper floors will be converted into six efficiency apartments where the residents will become cooperative owners. Smith said the rent, based on federal guidelines for low-income people, will pay for utilities and maintenance; any extra money will go into an escrow account for the residents.
When residents leave, they will get that money to be used toward other housing. The residents also will be in charge of choosing utility providers, maintenance workers and others.
"I think there is going to be a real pride of ownership here," Smith said.
Jeanne McGuire, executive director of the Pennsylvania Low Income Housing Coalition, is pleased with the cooperative ownership plan.
"When an individual can own a piece of something, that commitment goes a long way to stabilizing a life," she said. "The chronically mentally ill are some of the most vulnerable people in our society."
Three other buildings on Grant Street will serve as HSC offices and two others will be traditional rooming or boarding houses for the mentally ill, Smith said.
Other help: Most of the renovation work will be done through Operation Outward Reach, a program that gives Mercer Correctional Facility inmates on-the-job training in the construction trades by renovating properties for nonprofit organizations.
The city also has agreed to close that section of Grant Street to traffic and the HSC will build a park and promenade area in front. The city also is razing homes across the street to make room for a park and parking area.