Credit: Norristown Hospitality Center
A Norristown nonprofit organization with a mission of helping people experiencing homelessness will find themselves without a home in a few weeks.
The Norristown Hospitality Center currently operates out of the Montgomery County Senior Adult Activity Center at 536 George St. offering food, shelter, bathrooms, and case management services to roughly 60 to 75 people per day dealing with homelessness and financial hardship. The clock is ticking as the lease ends on Dec. 31, Executive Director Sunanda Charles said, and no new space has been found.
“Our center provides a safe and secure space during the day for people, and especially during this harsh weather, and without us, a lot of them would lose this safe space,” Charles said.
The Norristown Hospitality Center saga began in July 2024 when Charles was notified the nonprofit needed to leave its original location, a space they’d previously occupied for more than two decades.
The nonprofit had a month-to-month lease and the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania relocated its headquarters to Norristown, which prompted the need for a new locale.
Center location moves
The nonprofit initially entered into a $925,000 purchasing contract in December 2024 for a mixed use property at 336 E. Moore St. However, the proposed development was faced with staunch public opposition. Charles and other representatives sought a variance request, which brought residents out to vocalize their opinions both in support and opposition to the project.
“We have to start treating people with dignity, kindness and respect. When we say inclusion, that means including everyone, no matter what their condition,” a Norristown resident said during an April meeting.
“In our neighborhood, we can’t afford this right now,” said Norristown resident Derrick Jones, adding “we already have issues.”
Norristown Zoning Hearing Board members heard hours of testimony and public comment, eventually denying the nonprofit zoning relief at a meeting in late May. Montgomery County officials received zoning relief that same month for a 50-bed supportive short term housing facility at 1430 DeKalb St.
To address growing homelessness issues, Montgomery County has begun implementing plans with a regional approach, executing leases for rooms at a Pottstown hotel and an office building in Lansdale that will soon become a 20-bed supportive short term housing facility operated by the Philadelphia-based Resources for Human Development.
Rates have been on the rise in recent years, with the county’s annual Point-in-Time Count climbing from 357 people in 2023 to 425 people in 2024. Figures for 2025 534 individuals experiencing homelessness on a cold night in January, according to the Norristown Hospitality Center’s website.
Enacting a contingency plan, Charles said the nonprofit secured a temporary lease at the senior center.
The lease took effect mid-June, Charles said. Norristown Hospitality Center was “closed for three days to move, and we resumed our services.” Acknowledging “pushback from some community members,” Charles said she attended a meeting with area residents to hear their concerns about the nonprofit operating in the new space.
“They understood that our work is important, and that we need to exist in the community, but not necessarily in that part of the community [was] what I got from her and … we changed a few things when we moved to the senior center,” Charles said, adding the nonprofit hired security and had conversations with clients to discourage littering and loitering.
Response from Norristown, Montgomery County
Charles heard from leadership at the facility about their need to vacate when their lease expired as the property would be undergoing construction.“It was a six-month lease, I’ll give it that, but we were hoping for an extension there for at least the short term so we would have some time to get our thoughts together, take a breather and start looking for the next permanent location,” Charles said.
Charles said she’s been trying “to find a more permanent solution to our situation.” In conversations with municipal officials, Charles said “we were initially advised that our best bet would be to find a property in the heavy industrial zone,” referring to places such as Lafayette and Washington streets. Charles emphasized accessibility and walkability is crucial for clientele.
“They have listened, they have verbalized support,” Charles said. “Although there has also been some rhetoric about ‘oh people com[ing] from outside and why should it just be Norristown?’”
Charles maintained the need for open dialogue, often running prospective locations by municipal officials, after going through the zoning process with the Moore Street property.
“We had invested so much of time and money in that endeavor that we lost all that, and so to avoid another situation like that we said OK, every time we are looking at a property as a potential, we will run it by you, and get some feedback about whether this has better chances of getting zoning approval or not,” Charles said.
Norristown Municipal Council President Rebecca Smith said she was aware of conversations taking place between council members, municipal planning officials and the nonprofit.
“Obviously, I hope there’s not a large gap in services for the community. I think the hospitality center is still working out what the best, most appropriate location for their services would be, and then the municipal process and zoning approval would follow from that,” Smith told MediaNews Group.
“But then now we’re right down to the wire. We don’t have … the luxury of time to do that,” Charles said, stressing that “even if it’s a temporary space, we need to be in a space by first of January, and so time is running out.”
Charles also noted a lack of tangential support from the Montgomery County government. While Charles said she received a phone call from a deputy chief operating officer, “to find out what’s going on. That’s as much as it was.”
“I mean it’s appalling, and heartbreaking in a way because here we are on the front lines doing this important work of supporting the community in such a huge way,” Charles said.
The matter was raised last month during the Norristown Hospitality Center’s “One Night Without Sleep” event. The organization’s website prompted a letter writing campaign to high ranking officials at the local and county levels, and Charles said hundreds have been sent.
“We wrote letters at the sleep out and that’s continued even after,” Charles said. “So people are sending letters, but there hasn’t been any communication, and I am extremely disappointed with that because everybody knows that we are going to be out of that space and don’t necessarily have a place to go in January.”
A Montgomery County spokesperson responded to Charles’ comments in a Friday afternoon statement to MediaNews Group:
“Montgomery County cares deeply about serving our residents, including those experiencing homelessness,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Our work on transitional housing projects in Lansdale, Pottstown and Norristown demonstrates our clear commitment to helping our most vulnerable residents find permanent places to lay their heads and get back on their feet. Norristown Hospitality Center plays a vital role in that continuum of housing services, and the center is well aware that the county has proactively provided support for its mission.”
‘There is no way we will let our mission die’
Charles said the “closure of the center will cut off these lifelines, making it harder for people to get help” and strain other existing social service resources. The fate of the center is yet to be seen, but Charles’ a “diehard believer that the mission of the center will always stay alive.”
“I don’t know what it is going to be but I am going to find a way,” she said, adding “there is no way we will let our mission die. We will continue to work and operate. I just don’t know in what way … that looks like.”
With less than a month until the end of the year, it begs the question of what happens next?
“It’s urgent. It is now and we need the county, the elected officials, the faith leaders, everyone to understand the urgency of the situation and come together to support us to find a way,” she said.
