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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Hi View Gardens, purchased by PNC in 2018, suffered years of decline before its low-income tenants rallied to demand improvements. Now they have management’s ear — but the bank plans to sell. -
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. -
The Allegheny County Health Department is weighing new housing enforcement measures next year, as data shows that some of the worst violators pay nothing. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
For a family that came to Hi View Gardens in a search for safety and affordability, 2021 has been a year of housing turmoil.
