Innamorato wants 500 affordable housing units in 500 days

Pam Steimer was working two jobs when she was priced out of her Pittsburgh apartment 18 months ago.

She moved into a hotel while she searched for a new place to live. But rent prices were “out of my reach,” she said, and often required deposits equal to about three months of her salary.

Steimer spent months living in the Second Avenue Commons homeless shelter Downtown — it was placed out of commission this week by a fire — before finding an apartment she could afford in Braddock, where she now feels secure.

“Unfortunately, my struggles aren’t unusual,” Steimer said. “I don’t want anyone else to experience what I did.”

Steimer said a new initiative unveiled Thursday by Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato to house 500 people currently living in shelters gives her hope for others.

Innamorato on Thursday announced a “bold but achievable goal” of providing 500 units that will be affordable to the area’s lowest- income residents currently living in shelters.

And she hopes to do it in 500 days. The goal, officials said in an announcement at the Allegheny County Courthouse, is to move people out of temporary shelters into permanent housing.

That would provide people now staying in shelters with the chance to live in permanent, dignified housing, while also opening up shelter beds for those now sleeping on the streets.

Innamorato is partnering with city, state and federal officials, landlords, philanthropic organizations and others to reach her goal.

The effort could involve converting existing buildings like hotels or nursing homes; repairing apartments that are not currently in use; or identifying properties with landlords willing to partner on the project to make their housing affordable to people coming out of shelters.

RK Mellon Foundation, the Hillman Foundation and the Heinz Endowments will each kick in $1 million. Eden Hall will contribute $375,000. And a government grant will add another $3 million.

The program, officials said, will include support for both the people leaving shelter and their new landlords.

Already, 75 housing units have been offered up for the initiative from Action Housing, Brandywine Communities and Rising Tide Partners, Innamorato said.

For the county executive, housing issues are personal. She said she was 15 when she came home from school one day to the news from her mother that they were leaving their home.

Innamorato lived in 10 different places from then until her high school graduation.

“It was a life of uncertainty, a life no one deserves,” she said.

Data shows that Allegheny County’s homelessness has been on the rise.

Last year, there was an average of 169 unsheltered people in Allegheny County, up from an average of 65 in 2021, according to the county’s Department of Human Services.

People are staying longer in shelters and not migrating to more permanent housing, officials said, leading to more people on the street.

County shelters have seen a 40% rise in length of stays.

Likely driving that increase are what the county calls “low-risk” individuals such as Steimer.

Those are people struggling economically who don’t qualify for special programs, who have less contact with mental health and criminal justice systems, and who have fewer issues with substance abuse.

Many of them have jobs or some kind of income, but they don’t make enough to pay for housing, which has gotten more expensive in Allegheny County and across the country.

County officials want to increase the flow in and out of shelters by making permanent affordable housing units available.

They will start by providing those units to low-risk individuals. They make up about 75% of the people in shelters in Allegheny County.

Though officials just announced the program, they’re already making progress in helping people transition from shelter into housing, said Erin Dalton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services.

Last year, only a dozen people made the move to permanent public housing, Dalton said.

Last month alone, 20 people made that jump.

“We know that housing’s about so much more than a roof and walls,” said U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, who joined Steimer, Innamorato and Dalton at the press conference. “It plays a role in every aspect of our lives.”