A homeless camp outside Second Avenue Commons is the latest of many prominent encampments to have been cleared since Pittsburgh formalized its policy two years ago. Advocates and outreach workers say their disappearance masks the true problems as they attempt to support a growing unhoused population.
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The demonstration led by Our Streets Collective followed a Housing Advisory Board [HAB] meeting July 29, where outreach workers expressed frustration with a growing list of encampment closures. “We are responding in a crisis with something that is not meant to be a long-term fix or resolution. It’s continued displacement,” Calla Kaineroi, executive director of Bridge to the Mountains, said during the meeting.
In a statement, the Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services [ACDHS] said the clearing was necessary to ensure residents of Second Avenue Commons can safely access the building, which includes an engagement center, medical clinic and single-room occupancy units.
“Every person staying outside has been offered shelter,” said the statement, co-authored by Second Avenue Commons. A temporary shelter was opened in the basement of Second Avenue Commons on Thursday evening, and will remain open for several days “until people affected by this change have transitioned to other options,” said Allegheny County DHS in an email to Public Source. Twelve people stayed in the temporary shelter on Thursday night, the department added.
DHS helped relocate 15 people from the encampment during the week beginning Aug. 4, according to the statement.
One of them, Paris, 24, said he got the keys to his new apartment a week ago, helped by Allegheny Link. He stood outside Second Avenue Commons on Friday morning, visiting friends and watching protesters brandish signs as crews cleaned the site.
Paris spent months at the encampment during his three years living on the streets. His friends, he said, have not been lucky enough to make it through the bottlenecked housing list, and some, like him, have been exited from the shelter. Paris has seen the basement doors open before to manage other encampment shuffling. “Last time they opened overflow for a week and everyone went in, and then after a week, everyone was back out here again,” Paris said, gesturing to the rocks.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Pittsburgh saw a rise in homelessness and visible encampments, sparking debate among advocates, city officials and Downtown business leaders. Two years ago, the city adopted a formal policy for clearing encampments. Under the policy, camps can be “decommissioned” if they’re in parks or public spaces, pose health or safety concerns, show signs of drug sales, or are within 10 feet of roads, trails, sidewalks or other public rights of way.
Though many of the larger, prominent encampments have been cleared in the last two years, the number of unsheltered people has increased — from 198 on Aug. 6, 2023, to 280 on Aug. 6, 2025. The county reports a similar number of people staying in shelters.
Some outreach workers say their job has increasingly centered on relocating people from one encampment to another, harming their relationship with those they serve and preventing them from addressing underlying needs. There have been at least 11 such closures under the Gainey administration, with at least six this year, said Ben Talik, ROOTS program manager.
“I think in outreach’s eyes, all of the areas that were closed down for safety issues did not actually solve those safety issues, especially in terms of those human trafficking instances,” Talik said during the July 29 meeting. “The person who was doing the victimization would typically just move on to other encampments.” He also pointed to at least three displaced people dying following the removal of encampments Downtown, on North Side trail and the South Side trail.
Olga George, communications director for Mayor Ed Gainey, wrote in an email to Public Source the policy is “neither the cause nor the effect of the broader societal challenges contributing to homelessness.”
“Our approach is focused on treating vulnerable, unsheltered residents with dignity and respect, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the complex challenges they face,” George wrote
In a statement, ACDHS said the county has increased winter sheltering and added “over 100 year-round beds to the continuum since 2022.” The department also highlighted the county’s 500 in 500 program, which it says has secured housing for more than 500 people in more than 300 units.
Talik acknowledged the efforts made to rehouse people, though he said those offers didn’t work for every person. The closure in July of the South Side trail encampment led to five people moving into shelter, only to be “exited” within weeks, Talik said.
“The solutions that are being offered are, I often say, like nosebleed care,” said Kainaroi, of Bridge to the Mountains, during the July 29 meeting.
“Folks are less willing to trust us . . . folks are being pushed to more dangerous locations, so when we do find folks not only do they maybe not want to be found, but our outreach workers are also in very dangerous situations in trying to locate people.”
Stephanie Strasburg is a photojournalist with Public Source. She can be reached at Stephanie@publicsource.org or on Instagram at @stephaniestrasburg.
Jamie Wiggan is deputy editor at Public Source and can be reached at jamie@publicsource.org.
This article first appeared on Pittsburgh’s Public Source and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.