A new supportive short term housing facility is located at 1107 E. Main St. in Lansdale. (Rachel Ravina – MediaNews Group)
Reconstructing an office building into a place of refuge for those experiencing homelessness in and around Lansdale takes time, but officials hope it’ll be well worth the effort.
Work on the supportive short term housing project broke ground back in March. Initially targeting a fall opening date, it’s been pushed to early 2026 as construction continues.
“Naturally, you want these projects to move a little faster because there is an immediate need we know in the borough, but I’m really proud of the progress that we’ve made,” Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Jamila Winder said.
The need for the 20-bed facility at 1107 E. Main St. comes amid an uptick in people experiencing homelessness in Lansdale. While officials previously estimated around 30 people experiencing homelessness locally, Lansdale Borough Council President Mary Fuller said that figure has grown “pretty drastically” to around 50 people.
“It’s necessary that we all work together for the common good of the people we’re elected to serve,” Fuller said.
Getting the supportive short term housing facility open to serve those experiencing homelessness in the North Penn region can’t come soon enough as advocates and government officials striving to reduce the local unhoused population contend with colder temperatures.
“I’ve talked to our internal team both last year and this year, really acknowledging the fact that winter is coming, and people need a safe and warm place to lay their head at night, and so we’re trying to ensure that we get people in that particular transitional housing program as soon as soon as we can early next year,” Winder said.
What’s inside Lansdale space?
County commissioners allocated $1.3 million for operational costs and $1.3 million for construction, signing a 10-year lease agreement with Lansdale-based Liberty Bell Realty Co. for the 4,800-square-foot space at 1107 E. Main St. in December 2024.
The Philadelphia-based Resources for Human Development will operate the facility and have around 18 employees on staff once it opens.
Project partners took the building used for insurance and behavioral health purposes in prior iterations down to the studs, constructing bedrooms, bathrooms and community spaces.
“I think the timeframe is the unknowns that you come across when you’re in development, but also our heavy focus on safety and design,” said RHD Regional Director Owen Camuso.
The facility will have single and double occupancy rooms, bathrooms, showers and laundry, and a community space. Additional services are expected to span the gamut, such as food, mental and behavioral health, employment training, gaining access to benefits, and veterans services.
Big job
The project was no small undertaking, as Christina Jordan, program director of Resources for Human Development’s Montgomery County Homeless Services, noted.
“I feel like at the groundbreaking, we had just the basic architectural … layout. But as I have learned through this process there’s much, much more,” Jordan said.
Jordan said the “bulk of time” was spent “creating the detailed architectural plan piece,” which encompasses electrical, engineering, mechanical, and plumbing plans. They also had to install a sprinkler system, build bathrooms and laundry to adequately accommodate the planned clientele.
“There were no operational showers,” said Sean Lee, coordinator of public property management with the Montgomery County Department of Assets and Infrastructure.
The conduction crew tackled priming the walls after the drywall went up, with electrical, flooring and heat top priorities for the project’s final stages.
“We’ve tried to do everything that we can to have as much possibly ready to go,” Jordan said, with Camuso adding they’ll be ready to welcome people “as soon as the paint dries.”
Making “it a place” that “was actually livable” was of paramount importance to the project as stakeholders balanced safety and habitability through a “trauma-informed” lens.
Camuso said, “We were able to design what we feel is a facility that is not institutional, but more of a home-like setting,” a benefit for adults ages 18 years and older who are referred to space and will reside there for an average stint of 60-to-90 days.
‘This is incredibly crucial ’
This will be a major step forward in an effort to tackle the homelessness crisis locally. Rates of homelessness have been on the rise in a county without a major operational shelter for nearly three years since the closure of the Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center in Norristown.
“We know that this is incredibly crucial for the community, and many communities in Montgomery County. The need for safe indoor spaces that are trauma-informed and offer 24/7 supportive services to connect people to jobs, income, housing opportunities, treatment opportunities is more important than ever, because we just know that the systemic inflow is affecting more and more people,” said Kayleigh Silver, administrator of the Montgomery County Office of Housing and Community Development.
There were 357 individuals reported experiencing homelessness on a cold night in 2023, 435 people in 2024 and 534 people found this year during the 2025 Point-in-Time Count, according to figures from the Norristown Hospitality Center, as it relates to the federally-mandated initiative designed to catch a glimpse into the local homelessness situation on a given night.
The CHOC served as the largest and main homeless shelter for single adults, but it was shuttered in June 2022 when the tract of land on which the building was situated was conveyed to the Municipality of Norristown for development.
RHD provides services to those in need in the Montgomery County area, offering shelter to 37 people in a Montgomery County hotel, but they’ve faced an uphill battle in recent years as they tried to find another brick-and-mortar space after the CHOC closure.
The nonprofit had proposed a supportive short term housing development project on the grounds of Eagleville Hospital. However, Lower Providence Township officials paused proceedings in April 2024, following staunch public opposition by township residents.
Partnerships with municipalities
Homelessness remains evident countywide but has been most visible in the larger towns of Norristown and Pottstown, as homeless encampments have increased in the two years since CHOC’s closure. With a concentration of social service agencies in the two boroughs, they often bear the weight of the burden, as elected officials urged others to come to the table.
“I believe that the work that we’ve done in partnership with Lansdale Borough does act as a model for other municipalities to follow,” Winder said, emphasizing “we need everybody to step up and be a part of the solution.”
Officials praised the partnership with governing partners in Lansdale when the opportunity to pursue a development presented itself.
“I keep calling Lansdale our unicorn. This is because of the partnerships and the shared vision and the collaboration and the communication,” Silver said.
“We learned in Lansdale that there’s a real sense of community that they care about taking care of people in Lansdale, and they have seen the visual homeless issue in Lansdale,” Camuso said. “That’s something that really struck me in this process — how much people in Lansdale care about people in Lansdale, and that’s the entire community.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Fuller, humbled by her “caring” constituents.
“They see there is an issue with people who don’t have housing and they truly care about those people,” Fuller said, stressing it’s “a win-win for the people that need the service and the community.”
Fuller added the location couldn’t be better for accessibility to nearby social service agencies, including the nearby Manna on Main Street and women’s Code Blue shelter at the Wissahickon Park facility, both of which are within walking distance.
But both advocates and government officials acknowledged there’s still much more to do.
“We know these 20 beds isn’t going to solve homelessness in Montgomery County,” Camuso said. “That’s why we need to go out and create and build more partnerships, like we did here in Lansdale, to be able to work towards solving homelessness.”
Montgomery County previously signaled intentions to invest in infrastructure solutions after earmarking $10 million in the 2025-29 capital improvement program fund for a homeless shelter, with an infusion of federal COVID-19 relief dollars furthering these initiatives.
County officials also executed a lease for up to 120 beds at a Pottstown hotel, and received zoning relief for a 50-bed facility in Norristown.
Resources for Human Development was also awarded a roughly $2.7 million operational contract, with a previously issued request for proposals mentioning “up to three potential sites” in the county.
“Lansdale is certainly special and I appreciate their partnership, and then standing ready to be in lockstep with us to, to bring this project along,” Winder said. “But I would also say that there’s conversations happening in other parts of the county to address the entire housing continuum.”
Officials have had previous conversations with Lansdale, Norristown, Pottstown and West Norriton Township representatives. While they’ve gained momentum in most places, Winder acknowledged “we are still in talks with West Norriton,” but they’re “not as far along.”
Officials touted the efforts taking place to address homelessness in the western part of the county by implementing temporary housing solutions at the Days Inn in Pottstown. Pottstown Beacon of Hope also broke ground on a permanent facility back in June, but it’s unclear when it will open.
“This winter, we can say that we’ve got more than 100 people that don’t find themselves sleeping in the woods or out on the streets,” Winder said.
In Norristown, Winder noted the project’s in the “architectural design” phase at 1430 DeKalb St. as they await an existing tenant to vacate by the end of the first quarter of 2026, which will “support the zoning approval, and phased construction planning will begin” according to Norristown Municipal Administrator Leonard Lightner. Lightner told attendees of a Norristown Municipal Council meeting earlier this month that construction’s slated to start “later in the first half” of 2026.
“Construction is expected to progress through mid-to-late year, moving towards substantial completion and final inspections … are expected to be at the end of the year based on the construction timeline, and if all things are moving according to plan,” Lightner said.
“We know that Norristown is another community that has had a growing homelessness challenge, and my colleagues in Norristown and the community stand ready to help usher in this new transitional housing facility. So we’re making progress,” Winder said.
