If you walk past the new houses going up along Susquehanna Street in Homewood, you might not see Joshmin Ray, even though he has worked, or will, on all 36 of them. That’s because he’s working inside as part of the all-Black crew from Entergy Electric.
“I came through Rashad (Byrdsong’s) Ma’at Construction program. I like it. It’s good work,” he said. “I’d worked as an electrical assistant before, but that was a commercial job. I’m drilling holes, stapling, everything, basically, but pulling wire.”
That, said foreman Terry Dunning, is something he or journeymen Sean Mitchell and Martel Palmer can do—but Ray could do it if he continues and goes through the IBEW apprenticeship program.
“We’re the first in and the last to leave—because we have to wait for the Plumbing and HVAC guys to get their stuff in. Then we’ll be back after the walls go up,” said Dunning. “After this, we’ll be working on houses Mistick and KBK are putting up in Larimer and on Kelly Street.”
Like Ray, you probably won’t see Walt Porter on Susquehanna Street, or Tioga Street or Panky Way. That’s because he’s part of the Iron City Excavating crew, installing the plumbing mains from the street to all 36 units in the Susquehanna Homes development—and when he spoke to the New Pittsburgh Courier March 29, he was doing the last one.
“From the main to the house—all 36 of them,” he said. “I’ve been cutting, laying pipe, moving gravel, running the skid loader—I don’t get to run that, though,” he said, nodding to a backhoe perched in front of a foundation. “I got on through Rashad. Hopefully, I’ll stick with Iron City. It’s a good job.”
Barry Johnson doesn’t run a backhoe either, but he does drive a street sweeper to make sure there’s no construction debris in front of Pittsburgh Faison K-5 School when the kids get out.
“I was one of the first guys from the community on this job. I’m with Mistick. I was here in November, when it was nothing but dirt and cold. Now that it’s warmer it’s really picking up,” he said. “See those brothers over there on that stoop? I tell them every day they got to get on with Rashad. There’s a better way.”
Syronn Terry, also a laborer for Mistick, said it’s definitely a better way.
“I finished Rashad’s program, and because of that, I got on this job—and with my first couple of paychecks I was able to get my own apartment,” he said. “I wouldn’t have any of that without Rashad.”
As part of the partnership arrangement that won the $11 million federal tax credit to finance the project, every contractor and subcontractor must hire Black men from the community—even if they are a Black-owned firm like Ma’at, the co-general contractor with Mistick, which is doing six of the houses all by itself.
“You won’t see our guys out here either—because we haven’t started yet,” he said.
The homes, some of which will be completed by the end of May, will rent to families with incomes under 50 percent of the area’s median income. The bulk of the homes will be ready for occupancy by summer’s end.
Per the tax credit agreement, the homes will remain rental units for 15 years. After that they will be made available for sale—at well below market rate—with the occupants getting first crack.
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