“Homelessness here is not as in your face as it is in bigger cities. You know, you have encampments in Pittsburgh under the bridge when you drive down through. We don’t have that. It looks a little different. However, we do, in fact, have street homelessness. There are people that have, you know, small encampments. . .” Melanie Swab, housing director at the Warren-Forest Counties Economic Opportunities Council recently told the Times Observer. These encampments are generally in out of the way places, just off the beaten path, and go unnoticed by most people.

The official homeless count in the country is through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is a point-in-time count that takes place in January each year. Last winter’s PIT count in Warren County had 44 homeless households. These included seven children ages 19 or under and six young adults aged 18 to 24. Seven of these people were mentally ill and 15 were veterans.

“It’s January. A lot of the clients we serve are very resourceful,” Swab said. “When we go out to pull PIT numbers in January, it looks like there is a lot less homelessness than there really is. Those numbers would look a lot different when people can sleep outside and not literally risk their lives.”

Many people are what is considered category two homeless. These are people that are doubled up in housing, living with friends, in multigenerational houses with parents and grandparents, or couch surfing from place to place.

The food pantry in the Faith Inn is pictured.

“Primarily in Warren County, homelessness looks more like people being doubled up. We have multi generations of families living in the same household, mostly due to the fact that housing stock is extremely low in this area and incomes are extremely low in this area. Unfortunately, when you take those two things into account, the rents are very high for the area.” Swab said.

Rents are increasing steadily in the area. According to rentdata.org, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment was $594 in 2021 and $752 in 2025. That’s a 22% increase in price. The national average rent-to-income ratio reached 30% in the fourth quarter, according to Moody’s Analytics. That ratio was the highest it’s been in the more than 20 years Moody’s has been tracking it. Households that pay 30% or more of their income on rent are considered “cost-burdened” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They are spending more than a week’s pay on housing and utilities.

Entry level jobs in Warren, Pa start, on average, at $27,000 a year. After taxes, that is only $1,782 a month. A single person with an entry level job in the county is considered cost burdened by the federal government.

“The federal government says that a single person household has to make above 200% of the federal poverty guideline, or at least $31,000.” according to Ms. Swab.

Add children and childcare to that mix, and many families are one financial setback away from homelessness or category two homelessness, she said.

“A single parent that has to support three children and everything in their household, they have to bring in 64,300 a year. Which is about $31 an hour. Who’s paying $31 an hour? When you start talking about single parents or even two parent households with children, it takes both people to be employed, just to support the cost of housing and transportation. If you add in the price of childcare, it becomes even harder.” Swab said.

Assistance is available. Pennsylvania has an Emergency Rental Assistance Program to help people stay in their homes. In 2022, 541 applications for the emergency rental assistance programs were sent in from Warren County. There are also SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits and child care assistance to help low income families. Sometimes, those are simply not enough.

One service that the Economic Opportunity Council provides is help for people to make ends meet. Families that could be on SNAP assistance, which can be over $900 for a family of four, might not know they qualify. Prepaid cell phones through the government, medicaid and other services may be available to help families make ends meet and avoid homelessness.

The Faith Inn in Warren, PA, provides housing assistance to people in need. There are two apartments, one for an individual and one for a family, available for 30 days with 90 to 108 days of followup services to make sure that people can sustain the housing they are in.

There are also six units in the building for a reentry program for people who are incarcerated and eligible for release, but don’t have an approved housing plan. The EOC works with a reentry program to find employment and help with budgeting, housing and connections to other service providers.

“It actually costs less to run this program than it does to house them in jail every day,” Swab said, “and that just makes sense, right?”

So, what can people do to help? The Economic Opportunities Council is a non-profit organization. Donations to support the organization can always be made at wfcaa.org. There is always a need for hygiene products, such as soap, shampoo, deodorant, menstrual products, toothbrushes and toothpaste. There is also a need for clothing of all sorts, mens, womens and children, as well as basic small household items.

Most important, according to Ms. Swab, “if we truly want this county, this area to thrive, it cannot be siloed anymore. Every agency, every government seat, every company, every industry, every school has to work together to help solve this problem. Everyone. We do this together or it doesn’t work.”