Pittsburgh’s housing authority says voucher program building firmer foundation

PublicSource

2 years ago

Raymond Craighead sits at his desk, in the Downtown office where he works for the Housing Authority City of Pittsburgh’s Housing Choice Voucher Department. Like nearly half of the department’s employees, he was hired since the beginning of 2022. (Photo by Eric Jankiewicz/PublicSource)

Complaints about the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh’s Section 8 program have spurred new hires and outreach to landlords.

by Eric Jankiewicz, PublicSource

Pittsburgh’s housing authority is attempting to overhaul a Section 8 voucher program beset by problems of delayed payments and blamed for displacement of housing-insecure households.

Aiding this effort are millions in federal aid, an academic study into part of the Section 8 program, a cadre of new employees and two new board members.

While tools are in place for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh [HACP] to address an atrophied program meant to help stabilize housing for those in need, former agency employees warn that without improved management, the Section 8 program will continue to struggle to address displacement. It has alienated landlords with slow — or no — payments.

The housing authority’s director said the agency is well on its way to completely revamping the program by the end of the year.

“Everything is going the right direction. We’re OK but we’re not there yet. We’re progressively moving toward our goal,” said HACP Executive Director Caster Binion.

Under Section 8, households with vouchers pay 30% of income toward rent and utilities, with the balance covered by the authority.

Caster Binion, executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, at work at the agency’s Downtown offices. (Photo by Eric Jankiewicz/PublicSource)

“People talk bad about us but we provide housing for lots of people,” Binion said. The authority provides around 5,117 households totaling 11,534 people with active rent vouchers. Another 1,428 households are on a waiting list for vouchers.

The authority, he said, has been reaching out to landlords and working on staffing problems.

Turnover has been a problem for the authority’s Section 8 department.

As of May 31, the housing authority had 34 employees in the Section 8 department, of whom seven had been hired this year, and eight the year before, including a new director. Binion said that the department was almost completely done training new staff, through a four-part system that focuses on small cohorts.