Cover illustration by Dan Marsula

August 2, 2017

Reporting Kate Giammarise

Data Liz Navratil

When she had to leave her East Liberty apartment last year, Linda Robinson was stressed and upset. She was having difficulty finding a place to live.

She had a Housing Choice Voucher — commonly referred to as a “Section 8” voucher — which helps low-income individuals find an apartment on the private rental market by paying part of their rent every month.

>_current.housing Pittsburgh data decoded

Still, she searched for months.

"One time, I spent $30 on stamps, applying for places. They put you on the waiting list. You can't get anything immediately," she recalled.

In the city of Pittsburgh, there are high numbers of voucher holders in East Liberty, Carrick, Sheraden/Esplen, Knoxville and Crawford-Roberts and the Middle Hill, an analysis of data from three local housing authorities by the Post-Gazette found.

The Allegheny County suburbs of Wilkinsburg, McKeesport, McKees Rocks, Penn Hills, Duquesne, Clairton and Swissvale have the highest number of voucher holders, the same analysis — using data from the Allegheny County Housing Authority and McKeesport Housing Authority — found.

Linda Robinson sits for a photo in her new apartment on July 26, 2017 in Wilkinsburg. (Haley Nelson/Post-Gazette) Linda Robinson waters her plants on the balcony for a photo in her new apartment in Wilkinsburg. (Haley Nelson/Post-Gazette)

Within the city, there are only a handful or no voucher-holders in neighborhoods like Regent Square, Point Breeze and Squirrel Hill North, according to data provided by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh.

Almost no residents with vouchers live in suburbs such as Aspinwall, Scott Township, or Upper St. Clair.

Such a distribution reflects an unfortunate reality that Ms. Robinson ran into, experts say. Landlords willing to accept Section 8 vouchers can often be concentrated in areas with poor performing public schools, and limited access to jobs and amenities.

For voucher-holders, “[t]his means that while in theory, a voucher grants you access to housing anywhere in the private market, they are actually quite limited in their choices of where they can live,” said Anita Zuberi, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Duquesne University who has studied the program.

“Also, research suggests that the voucher program in its current form is not meeting one of the original intentions of the program, which was to reverse the concentration of lower income housing that was created by large scale public housing developments. No area is as high in concentration of poverty as areas with large scale public housing developments, but voucher holders are by no means able to relocate to what are considered ‘high opportunity neighborhoods’ – where the poverty is low, the public schools system is good, and the services and amenities are thriving,” she said.

Ms. Robinson, who had lived in East Liberty for eight years, said she was hoping to continue to live there, or another East End neighborhood.

"I really like Squirrel Hill, because that's where I was getting physical therapy," she said.

"Everything is convenient — Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, East Liberty were the areas I was targeting, and nothing. Homewood was available, and Wilkinsburg. Most of the high-crime areas," she said.

Because the program depends on lots of participation from landlords, Pittsburgh’s Housing Authority does try to reach out to landlords to encourage participation in the program, and says it has taken steps to make things easier through a “preferred” landlords program, and has created a landlord advisory council to get input to improve the program, said Chief Operations Officer David Weber.

The authority is also working on developing a new payment system that could allow renters to use their vouchers in more areas of Pittsburgh they could be priced out of currently. The plan would essentially create “submarkets” within the city — which would allow the program to pay a higher rent for an apartment in say, Squirrel Hill or Shadyside — rather than the same city-wide payment standard for fair market rent used now.

“But at the same time, I think we have to be cautious about the cost,” Mr. Weber noted, because more costly rentals could ultimately mean fewer people could participate in the program.

The plan would still need to be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the authority is still gathering rental market data, Mr. Weber said.

Will Fischer, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said such a change wouldn’t necessarily raise program costs, because rents could be lowered in other neighborhoods.

"It's a way to give [voucher holders] broader choices about where they live," he said. He also said housing authorities can assist in expanding the geographic scope of the program by making sure they are giving people information about apartments that are in a whole range of neighborhoods.

2011 voucher units 2016 voucher units

Neighborhood vouchers +/-

Housing Authority data was based on Census tract information, and in some cases it was not possible to distinguish between neighborhoods that fall within the same Census tract. For that reason, in both years, the following neighborhoods have been combined: Chartiers City, Fairywood and Windgap; Elliott and the West End; Sheraden and Esplen; Allegheny Center and Allegheny West; Arlington and Arlington Heights. In 2016 data, Glen Hazel and Hazelwood were combined into one unit and Hazelwood and Hays were combined into a separate unit; there may be some overlap. In 2011, Glen Hazel, Hazelwood and Hays were combined.

"Just make sure people are hearing about those other opportunities, and how the quality of schools varies, and the impact that moving to a different place can have," he said.

John and Peter Rooke, brothers who run North Side-based Oakglade Realty that rents some of its 184 units to voucher-holders, say they understand some landlords might be reluctant to participate in the program due to concerns about the required annual quality inspection or misperceptions about who the program services.

“We see Section 8 as being an asset to the community,” said Peter Rooke.

The program provides a level of economic security for both tenant and landlord, said John.

“Most of the people on Section 8 are in more precarious employment positions. When their employment gets cut, or if there is an issue where they had to quit the job... Section 8 is a safety net that keeps them from the street. And it’s a safety net that keeps us from having to pursue legal options to get rent,” until the person gets back on their feet, he said.

“Our desire is to create quality, affordable housing as the foundation to a just and diverse community,” said John.