A person experiencing homelessness is silhouetted across from the Smithfield United Church of Christ shelter where they sometimes stay, as photographed on March 2, 2023. As the Smithfield shelter closes, people working with displaced people are trying to find them new shelter, or when possible, more permanent housing. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
Here’s what the mayor — and you — should know
Put aside the stereotypes and focus on the basics — from simple kindness to bathrooms — urge the people who work most closely with unhoused Pittsburgh.
by Eric Jankiewicz, PublicSource
With homeless shelters full and warming weather, some street outreach workers are calling the situation in Pittsburgh a crisis and expect the number of people living outside to increase by up to 50%.
During a May 3 meeting, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey asked some 70 social, healthcare and outreach workers to inform him about the daily and systemic challenges they face and to provide insight into why people are being displaced.
Chase Archer Evans, a member of the county’s Homeless Advisory Board who’s been experiencing homelessness for more than 15 years, responded by asking him whether someone in the mayor’s office dropped the ball on the homelessness situation.
“Nobody dropped the ball when we came in,” Gainey answered. “It doesn’t exist. When we came into office, we didn’t have anything. We don’t have a ball on anything.”
Gainey said the meeting was inspired by a need to understand the situation and come up with solutions.
“I think we’re all here because we all know that we are in a crisis, that we do have more people experiencing homelessness in the city right now,” David Lettrich, executive director of Bridge Outreach, told Gainey during the meeting.
In previous summers, the number of people living outside increased, Lettrich said, and this year, “by the end of May, what we’re experiencing right now is going to increase by anywhere from one-third to 50%. … And our resources are taxed beyond capacity and have been since really October, November of last year … human resources and physical resources.”
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