Ground broken on Pottstown homeless shelter

POTTSTOWN — After years of legal entanglements, zoning hearings, public meetings, and cold, late nights, Pottstown Beacon of Hope experienced a measure of satisfaction Thursday with a groundbreaking ceremony for its new homeless shelter to be built at the corner of West High and Glasgow streets.

“Each committee of the whole meeting, late-night drive, and hot meal shared has paved the way for this moment,” said Tom Niarhos, executive director of the organization and the public face for this project.

“In breaking ground, we are not only pouring concrete, but cementing Pottstown’s commitment to its residents,” Niarhos said. He said the Montgomery County Commissioners’ “commitment of $1.3 million in ARPA funds turned possibility into a plan,” in reference to federal aid provided during the pandemic.

“This is a huge accomplishment,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Tom DiBello. He pointed to other efforts the county is undertaking to offer aid and support to the roughly 500 unhoused Montgomery County residents, saying the 45-bed Pottstown facility to be built here is a model for the rest of the county.

Such facilities often face a “NIMBY (Not in My back Yard) response” from nearby residents “but I say, if not here, where?” DiBello said. “They’re out there in the elements and, as a society, we need to do something.”

This project overcame “some deep-seated NIMBYism that spans decades,” agreed Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick. She credited Pottstown Borough Council “for having the moral courage to do what’s right for this community.”

Henrick shared that growing up as a child, she and her mother were often homeless. “My mother and I struggled and I spent many nights sleeping on people’s couches.”

“My mother always played the lottery, and this is my lottery project that I dreamed of as a kid. I dreamed of buying an apartment building and offering wrap-around services for those who needed it. And now, children who had been outside can do their homework inside, not by candlelight or in the laundromat like I did,” she said.

“This is truly a miracle,” Henrick said. “Thank you for not giving up.”

The effort began five years ago during the pandemic, when a group of citizens, then known as “Al’s Heart,” convinced the borough council to allow them to open a nighttime winter warming center in the former St. Aloysius Parochial School building on North Hanover Street. Despite some challenges and changes in location over the years, the warming center has operated without fail for 180 nights each winter season.

Since then, the shelter project has won zoning approval, planning commission approval, and borough council approval, and navigated a labyrinthine legal tangle of property titles and county records to get ownership of the 2.3-acre site. As things proceeded, the organization discovered that two parcels turned out to be four parcels, the owners of which could not be located, and all were on one deed and West Pottsgrove Township, which later claimed it had no idea the project was underway, took one of the parcels by eminent domain. It was a mess that burned up $80,000 in legal fees.

“Despite many unknowns, there have been several things that have been constant throughout,” said Mark Boorse, president of the board of directors for Pottstown Beacon of Hope.

“One of our guiding principles at Beacon of Hope is that homelessness is a community issue. It is not simply an issue for an unfortunate group of people struggling at the margins of the borough. It impacts the entire fabric of the community,” Boorse said. “It’s an issue for everyone to address collaboratively. And we have seen that collaboration happens. We have watched the community come together.”

He said, “Over 700 volunteers from the Pottstown area have joined us to make the warming center a reality for the past five winters.”

But once the heavy equipment arrives and construction begins, there will still be work to do to keep the center up and operating.

The Romberg and Landis families were the first to invest in the permanent facility through a guest room naming gift announced at the 2024 Fall Gala, setting a tone of leadership and commitment that continues to guide this journey, according to a press release issued Thursday afternoon.

As part of the celebration, Pottstown Beacon of Hope is officially launching its Capital Campaign — “an open invitation for the community to invest in a facility that will serve as a cornerstone of care and resilience for years to come. This groundbreaking isn’t just about putting shovels in the ground,” said Development Director Ashley Abbey. “It’s about building a future where every person in Pottstown has a place to belong, to be seen, and to be supported.”

Pottstown Beacon of Hope will be hosting a Progress Picnic on August 16th, 2025.

“Steel beams and steel panels alone won’t do the job,” said Niarhos.