Poor could get more housing choices

City seeks to open up better neighborhoods

A new housing authority policy aims to give low- income Pittsburghers access to housing in more neighborhoods, particularly higher- income areas. Additionally, starting in September, the policy will give incentives to landlords to improve the quality of their rental units in the city.

“We really want to create more housing opportunities for people. We don’t want those opportunities to be concentrated in one area,” said Marsha Grayson, chief operations officer for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh.

The Housing Choice Voucher Program, often referred to as Section 8, provides low- income renters with a voucher that pays a portion of their rent. The tenant pays about a third of their income, and the subsidy pays the rest to a private landlord.

However, the program has been hampered, in some instances, by landlords not wanting to accept the vouchers because they can earn more more money from non-voucher-holding tenants, particularly in recent years as some Pittsburgh neighborhoods have seen rising market- rate rents.

In some cases, would- be voucher users can’t find a landlord to accept their voucher. In other cases, they can only find housing in a high- poverty area that lacks access to jobs, good schools, and amenities.

“The goal of the Section 8 program, one of the major goals, was to help de- concentrate poverty,” said Anita Zuberi, an assistant professor at at Duquesne University.

But that hasn’t necessarily happened, and many voucher holders still end up in high- poverty neighborhoods, said Ms. Zuberi, who has written extensively about poverty, racial inequality, and neighborhoods.

A 2017 Pittsburgh Post- Gazette analysis found only a handful or no voucher holders in amenity-rich neighborhoods like Regent Square, Point Breeze and Squirrel Hill North.

Pittsburgh’s housing authority calculates what it considers fair market rent based on a formula that includes the seven- county metropolitan region. That has meant that Section 8 payments weren’t enough to afford a marketrate apartment in many low- poverty Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

But starting in September, the housing authority will allow a higher rent payment to landlords for housing in certain lower- poverty ZIP codes and neighborhoods, including Downtown, the Strip, the South Side Flats, and a number of East End neighborhoods, including Lower Lawrenceville, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill.

Citywide, landlords who make significant upgrades or investments that improve the quality of

their housing units can also be eligible for higher payment standards, in some cases.

The authority aims to expand housing choice to more neighborhoods, incentivize the creation of additional units from previously substandard properties, and decrease voucher concentration in high- poverty neighborhoods, according to the plan the agency submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Because of a federal lawsuit and court ruling, the authority had also proposed a plan last year to change rent payments based on ZIP codes, but went back to the drawing board after pushback from landlords and some neighborhood groups.

The revised plan has drawn some praise so far.

“I applaud the Housing Authority’s effort to revise its payment standard to better reflect rental prices in Pittsburgh and, more importantly, to increase the number and quality of housing options for households utilizing tenant- based rental assistance,” said Kevin Quisenberry, a housing attorney with the Community Justice Project.

“The Housing Authority is correct that there is a severe lack of decent, safe housing in the City of Pittsburgh that is affordable to families at the low end of the income scale. The authority is correct that certain high- opportunity neighborhoods, like Squirrel Hill, Oakland and Shadyside, have historically been unattainable for low- income families. And, the authority is correct that the current payment standard perpetuates racial minority concentration, as voucher holders are generally limited to low- income neighborhoods with similar racial and poverty demographics.

“The Housing Authority’s recognition of these realities is important, and its approach to revising its payment standard to address these realities appears to be serious and well- reasoned.”

Public meetings about the change will take place but have not yet all been scheduled. They will be announced on the housing authority’s website, hacp. org.