Keystone Mission will close its Innovation Centers in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton according to the organization’s interim director.
"With the economy being the way it is right now, donations have dropped drastically," Interim Executive Director Justin Behrens said Tuesday. "We had to make tough decisions, and so the board voted on the closure of those two buildings."
The two buildings are the Scranton Innovation Center for Homelessness and Poverty at 12 W. Olive St., and the Wilkes-Barre Innovation Center for Homelessness and Poverty at 90 E. Union St.
Behrens said Keystone Mission will downsize its operations to the Wilkes-Barre Transformation Center near the Sherman Hills apartment complex in Wilkes-Barre.
The downsizing plan will take effect over the next four weeks, he said.
Keystone Mission serves people experiencing homelessness. The Wilkes-Barre Innovation Center houses an overnight shelter that opened in June of 2024.
The city of Wilkes-Barre gave Keystone Mission a grant of $109,500 in American Rescue Plan Act funding last year for the shelter.
That money was meant to fund the shelter’s operations for a year, Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown said at the time.
Since its opening last year, Keystone Mission staff have said the shelter is consistently full. It can house around 70 people per night.
Behrens said Keystone Mission has seen a 42% decrease in financial donations over the last year. Staffing costs, meanwhile, increased since the overnight shelter opened last summer.
When Behrens assumed the role of interim director in February he said he did not take a salary, but he had to bring on more staff to address "pushback" from the community.
The overnight shelter was open every night, Behrens said, but people complained about shelter residents waiting outside during a four-hour window when the Innovation Center would close in the afternoons.
"People didn't like the homeless hanging around outside. They didn't like them being in the community," Behrens said.
When Behrens decided to keep the building open 24 hours a day, he had to hire additional staff.
Behrens said Keystone Mission will downsize its staff of 20 to about six people who will work out of the Transformation Center.
He said the staff is working on finding new shelter for the people who rely on the Wilkes-Barre facility.
"We're connecting ourselves with our network that we have within our own system, and asking if they have any beds available or any room available," he said. "We're going to try to get individuals placed so that they have they still continue to have a roof over their head, and they still continue that transition process"
In Scranton, Behrens said the decision was a little bit easier. They had already downsized the day room services available there, and the building did not provide overnight shelter.
"We decided to downsize and let other organizations do what they were doing and allow them to be successful," Behrens said.
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