TalkErie.com - The Joel Natalie Show - Erie Pennsylvania Daily Podcast · Joel Natalie

Build CDC's Schoolhouse Apartments: Laura Guncheon & Boo Hagerty - Apr. 6, 2026

April 7, 2026·44 min·3 clips

Boo Hagerty says the model is expensive upfront but can save the county “an enormous amount of money.”

1. TalkErie.com’s Joel Natalie Show focuses on BUILD Community Development Corporation’s Schoolhouse Apartments project in Erie, Pennsylvania. 2. Joel Natalie speaks with Laura Guncheon, executive director of BUILD Community Development Corporation, and Boo Hagerty of the Hammond Health Foundation, two people tied directly to Erie housing work. 3. The episode asks what it takes to turn an old school into permanent supportive housing for chronically unhoused people in Erie. 4. Laura Guncheon says she grew up in McKean County near Bradford and Port Allegany, where her graduating class had 62 students. 5. Laura says sports were her ticket to college, and graduate school at Mercyhurst brought her to Erie. 6. Laura says she first met Boo Hagerty through the Civic Institute while working at the Children's Advocacy Center. 7. Boo says he has worked at the Hammond Health Foundation for about 25 years and has helped launch several local efforts. 8. Boo says Schoolhouse Apartments is a response to one of Erie’s top three community issues: homelessness. 9. Laura says the team knew permanent supportive housing was the way to end chronic homelessness, but the project has gone through about 12 iterations. 10. Boo says the model is expensive upfront, but he expects it to save the county money compared with street homelessness, ER use, shelter use, and long hospital stays. 11. Boo says people on the street can cost $120,000 to $150,000 per year in combined services and care. 12. Boo contrasts that with an apartment model that could cost about $1,000 a month for rent and $1,000 to $1,500 a month for services. 13. Boo says the project now includes four street outreach workers and two full-time mental health counselors who do meds, wound care, food, shelter referrals, addiction support, and trust-building. 14. Laura says Sarah Sarpolinski, a nurse who leads the outreach team, has built enough trust that people seek her out at the Mental Health Association. 15. Boo says one man who would not enter an ER eventually got surgery, insurance, and a secured nursing-facility placement after the team worked his case. 16. Boo says the project shifted from a 72-unit idea to roughly 22 to 25 apartments in the old Erie School District building because the Housing Authority does not have enough vouchers. 17. Laura says the building will be developed as permanent supportive housing, not temporary shelter, and residents may stay as long as they need. 18. Boo says the design goal is dignity and durability, not luxury finishes, and he points to contractors donating materials and to pride in property. 19. People interested in Erie housing, homelessness response, and nonprofit development would follow this conversation closely. 20. People wanting a casual local-news chat without housing policy detail may skip it.

As heard by us

An Erie housing project's layered funding, costs, and public-finance tradeoffs.

Schoolhouse Apartments is presented as a reminder that housing projects rarely move on a single source of money. Laura Gunchen and Boo Haggerty lay out the practical drag from rising material and labor costs, then show how financing rules can add expense before construction even…

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Why you'd press play

How do you build housing when every funding source comes with strings?

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