Kate Giammarise
ReporterKate Giammarise focuses her reporting on poverty, social services and affordable housing. Before joining WESA, she covered those topics for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for nearly five years; prior to that, she spent several years in the paper’s Harrisburg bureau covering the legislature, governor and state government. She was part of the P-G staff that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting on the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. She has won numerous state and local awards for her reporting and was honored with a 2020 Keystone Media Award for her beat reporting on poverty. She can be reached at kgiammarise@wesa.fm or 412-697-2953.
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The report found it can be difficult for people to communicate with caseworkers in state-run county assistance offices, and noted that the SNAP program can have complex rules and reporting requirements that present barriers to getting aid. -
The program is administered by the nonprofit Dollar Energy Fund, which also administers other utility assistance programs. -
More than a dozen former Pittsburgh Public Schools such as Larimer School are now apartment buildings, both affordable and market-rate, according to a WESA analysis. -
Utility customers applying for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program — commonly known as LIHEAP — can now check a box that will allow their information to be shared with participating gas and electric utilities. -
Single room occupancy housing varies from building to building, but the units are typically dormitory-style housing, where residents have their own bed and room but often share bathrooms, a communal kitchen or other spaces. Tenants are usually single adults and can live there for a few months or many years. -
Influx of corporate buyers in Allegheny County pose issues for code enforcement, would-be homebuyersAn influx of corporate homebuyers in Allegheny County is causing code enforcement headaches and shrinking options for Pittsburghers looking to purchase their first home. -
Days after citing a West Mifflin apartment complex as a public nuisance, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. toured the property, pledged improvements, and said he would hold its owners accountable for the poor conditions there. -
Once the arrangements are finalized, the agency will take over management of Bry-Mard Apartments, a 37-unit building in East Hills, and ownership and management of Warren Plaza, a 12-unit property in the Hill District. -
The county will receive roughly $90 million in funds through 2038 because of national legal settlements with companies that made and sold addictive opioids. -
A criminal complaint alleges Mon View Apts LLC failed to make major repairs and remedy serious health and safety problems despite being given numerous opportunities.
