More Pittsburgh households now rent than own their homes, and landlords control a growing share of the housing market countywide. COVID-19 is testing the health of this market, bringing eviction curbs, rent relief and a revived tenants’ rights movement. PublicSource and WESA are exploring these changes and examining the governmental and civic responses to the emergence of Tenant Cities.
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Even PNC Bank’s resources haven’t cured all that ails two affordable McKeesport apartment properties, but 2022 may see major efforts there, plus new rental-housing quality initiatives by Pittsburgh and Allegheny County government. -
The Allegheny County Health Department’s enforcement tools haven’t helped to fix one McKeesport family’s faulty furnace.
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The Allegheny County Health Department is weighing new housing enforcement measures next year, as data shows that some of the worst violators pay nothing.
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On today’s program: U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh expects the economy to rebuild post-pandemic and improve with an emphasis on domestic production and expanding child care; the state senator first in charge of leading a forensic audit of November’s election has been reassigned and replaced, a move that highlights the power legislative leaders have in Pennsylvania; and a look at how one Pennsylvania city is operating a system of regular rental inspections, a process some in Pittsburgh hope to adopt.
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A judge nixed Pittsburgh’s bid to register and regularly inspect rental housing, but the concept has support from mayoral contenders. What might that look like? Allentown offers answers.
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The 25-year-old housing health code doesn’t include progressive fines or re-inspection charges, and the county hasn’t yet adopted data-driven enforcement or environmental courts — all measures taking hold in other areas of the country.
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Elected officials from the local to federal level have joined residents in calling for immediate improvements to conditions that have spurred a surge in housing health code violations and 911 calls.
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The bank has stakes in low-income housing properties in some 30 communities, and it aims to use its resources and government funds to keep rents low.
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For a family that came to Hi View Gardens in a search for safety and affordability, 2021 has been a year of housing turmoil.
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Three years ago, PNC bought housing complexes in McKeesport, intent on improving them and keeping them affordable. But health violations and 911 calls surged, and residents are organizing to demand better from the nation’s seventh-largest bank.
