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Allegheny County Department of Human Services and The Pittsburgh Foundation wanted to learn more about evictions in the region: How many eviction cases are filed each year, and for how much money? How many cases are filed against low-income tenants? And how many cases do tenants win in comparison to landlords? This report describes the available data about landlord–tenant cases in Allegheny County from 2012 to 2019 and the quantitative insights we have been able to learn from it.
In addition to the report, a guide to the evictions process has been developed by the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance to help demystify the steps.
What were the takeaways?
- Thirteen thousand to 14,000 residential eviction cases are filed each year in Allegheny County.
- In 2019, the average amount claimed by landlords was $2,029. While the number of cases filed has been fairly stable from year to year, the amount of money claimed increased 35% during the period of the study, closely tracking the increase in median rent of defendants in eviction cases.
- A disproportionate number of cases are filed against low-income tenants living in publicly subsidized housing.
- Fewer than 1% of tenants have attorneys in landlord–tenant cases. The number of cases in which landlords are represented by legal counsel is also small but has been rising steadily, from 3% in 2012 to 7% in 2019.
- Landlords win about 85% of cases. Tenants win around 1.5% of cases, with the remaining cases withdrawn, settled or dismissed.
- Seventy-three percent of landlord–tenant cases filed are for overdue rent alone, as opposed to lease violations or the term of a lease ending.
What are these reports about?
Nationally and locally, policymakers and practitioners are interested in the people who frequently use publicly funded services, particularly crisis services. Most people who use crisis services do so infrequently during a year. A small number of people, however, use crisis services frequently, and sometimes they use more than one type of crisis service.
Allegheny County’s rich integrated data allows us to look at the people who use crisis services. This report summarizes key findings about the people who were involved with one or more of the following four crisis services in the years 2016 through 2017: hospital emergency departments, emergency homeless shelters, mental health crisis programs, and the criminal justice system. This summary report will be followed up by reports examining each of these four service areas in more detail.
What are the takeaways?
- Of the people who used at least one of the four crisis services examined, 6% (10,655) met the definition of frequent users in at least one system. They accounted for 26% of all service episodes during this period.
- There is little overlap between frequent utilizers of one type of crisis service and another. Just 9% of users were frequent in multiple systems. This does not mean they didn’t use other services, just that they were not frequent users of those systems.
- Nonetheless, 26% of frequent users of mental health crisis services were also frequent users of hospital emergency departments, indicating that the emergency room might be a point of intervention for people in mental health crisis.
- All frequent users of emergency shelter were connected to other human services prior to their first shelter stay during this period. This overlap suggests that although frequent utilizers of emergency shelters were connected to supports, the reasons behind people’s continued use of shelter were not adequately addressed through the services they were receiving.
Black residents are using crisis services at disproportionately high rates, and the disproportionality is more pronounced when looking at frequent utilizers. While 13% of the Allegheny County population is Black, 42% of people who used crisis systems (both frequent and non-frequent) were Black, and 49% of frequent utilizers were Black.
How is this report used?
This work is meant to be exploratory and descriptive in nature to help continue and expand the conversation about how we look at frequent utilizers and potential interventions going forward. By looking more closely at this population of frequent utilizers, we hope to gain insight into their needs, identify key intervention points, and find ways to encourage long-term wellness while reducing the need for repeat intense service usage.
Where can I go for more information?
For questions or suggestions, please reach out to DHS-Research@alleghenycounty.us
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This report explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment in Allegheny County. It uses data from Pennsylvania Unemployment Insurance records. We examined the employment, earnings and unemployment benefits of working-age clients of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) from July 2019 through September 2020. This analysis sheds light on how some of Allegheny County’s neediest workers fared in the months preceding and following the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
What are the takeaways?
- DHS clients have persistent difficulty maintaining work and earning enough money to support themselves. Working-age clients had employment rates between 34 and 38 percent and quarterly earnings around $4,000 prior to the onset of COVID-19.
- DHS clients’ employment and earnings decreased markedly during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but began to rebound back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of September 2020. These trends paralleled the countywide situation.
How is this report used?
By continuing to investigate our clients’ employment experiences, DHS and its partners can gain insight into the economic challenges of our clients and tailor our services, including education and job-related supports, to better meet clients’ needs.
What are the Bethesda-Homewood Properties?
The Bethesda-Homewood Properties were subsidized units located in several predominantly Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh’s East End. In 2017, more than 200 residents of these properties were displaced. A federal subsidy provided to the property owner was being abated because of the owner’s repeated failure to maintain the properties. Residents were effectively forced to move because of the loss of their rental subsidy, but eligible residents were provided housing vouchers and moving cost assistance.
Why did we want to learn more about this housing displacement?
Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) wanted to learn more about the impact of housing displacement on residents of Bethesda-Homewood properties and use the information to inform planning for future mass displacements. This information is especially important in informing racial equity strategies in our region, given that housing displacement disproportionately affects Black residents, with Bethesda-Homewood being no exception.
What did we learn?
In some ways, housing vouchers offered opportunity for residents who moved; displaced residents were theoretically able to choose the location of their new homes. In reality, residents had difficulty finding landlords who would accept their housing vouchers, and the majority of displaced residents continued to live in neighborhoods with relatively high needs even after their relocation. While residents had limited geographic choice when it came to using their vouchers, most were still able to move to neighborhoods with comparatively less gun violence and good access to amenities. Half of those residents who completed a telephone survey reported feeling safer in their current neighborhood.
Related materials
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In 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) overhauled its regulations governing services to people experiencing or at-risk for homelessness. The new guidelines required local agencies operating emergency housing programs to implement a coordinated entry (CE) system to prioritize the most vulnerable clients. The policy emphasized getting clients into stable housing immediately, without preconditions.
While implementing a coordinated entry system was a major shift for Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) and its housing providers, they embraced the challenge, seeing an opportunity to improve equity, efficiency and effectiveness in connecting people to housing and other service interventions. The report describes how DHS established a coordinated entry system and is continuing to utilize data to make improvements in housing prioritization.
Related materials
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Recent national and local focus on Veterans who are experiencing homelessness has led to reduction in homelessness in this population. In order to provide more information about these individuals, this report describes Veterans in Allegheny County who received homeless assistance services at least once from 2014 through 2018, including details on demographics, housing program types and involvement with other County services. In order to sustain progress and to further prevent and reduce Veteran homelessness as much as possible, Allegheny County agencies and community partners will benefit from leveraging data to identify patterns in Veteran homelessness, track outcomes and inform practices for addressing Veterans’ housing needs.
What are the takeaways?
- The number of Veterans entering homeless assistance programs in Allegheny County declined by 45% from 2014 through 2018. By contrast, non-Veterans saw slight decreases in program entries.
- Underlying racial disparities in homelessness persisted among Veterans and non-Veterans alike. More than half of Allegheny County Veterans who accessed homeless assistance programs were Black. This proportion is consistent with the racial demographics of all people (Veterans and non-Veterans) who used these types of services in the region.
- Veterans who left the homeless system after receiving services were found to be slightly less likely than non-Veterans to re-enter the homeless assistance system, suggesting that they were able to find and maintain stable housing.
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The Emergency Rental Assistance Program offers financial assistance for people struggling to pay rent or utilities due to COVID-19. These dashboards track data about the program, those who have applied, and those who have received funds.
Trouble viewing the dashboard? You can view it directly here.
Input from community members is vital to the work that Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) does. One way that DHS is learning about the community’s needs is by posing questions on a public online feedback platform called Neighborland. DHS is reviewing and summarizing the answers we receive and analyzing the text for common themes. Feedback is being used to inform our planning and programming.
Since 2010, ACTION-Housing’s My Place program has provided housing and case management to Allegheny County youth who are either transitioning out of foster care or at-risk for homelessness. In 2013, ACTION-Housing built a modern, energy-efficient structure — the 24-unit Uptown Lofts — with the belief that services could be offered more effectively if many young adults were living at a single location. This report provides an overview of ACTION-Housing’s youth-focused programs and how it has found success serving vulnerable youth through supervised independence; clear expectations; and motivating, compassionate support staff.
Two housing programs in Allegheny County, Rapid Rehousing (RRH) and the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV, or Section 8), provide monetary assistance to households so that families can rent from private landlords and live in the communities of their choice. While participant choice is a potential benefit of both programs, the reality is that where participants live is often limited. Fair market rent calculations, source of income discrimination, zoning laws, and participants’ eviction and credit records can all create obstacles for housing program participants seeking rental units.
Since place has a profound influence on the outcomes of children and adults, we wanted to explore the degree to which individuals and families in RRH and HCV programs moved to disadvantaged census tracts. Analysis found that approximately half of households in the two programs moved to highly or extremely disadvantaged census tracts, even though only 18% of all census tracts in Allegheny County were classified as such. Key findings of the analysis include:
- 54% of HCV households and 41% of RRH households moved to highly or extremely disadvantaged census tracts in 2017.
- A small fraction of households (17% of HCV households and 25% of RRH households) moved to census tracts considered to be opportunity tracts with low disadvantage.
- Race was the most statistically important factor impacting where households tended to move. For example, Black females with children were roughly twice as likely as White females with children to move to highly or extremely disadvantaged tracts.
- Moving patterns persisted over time; a comparison of HCV rental locations in 2010 versus 2017 showed that program participants tended to move to the exact same census tracts across the two years, not just the same sort of census tracts (i.e, tracts with similar levels of disadvantage).
Read the full report here.
Since financial stability is an important part of people’s ability to live healthy and independent lives, Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) wanted to learn more about the work experiences of its clients. Using data from the Allegheny County Data Warehouse and 2018 State Unemployment Insurance records, we found that the majority of eligible DHS clients were disconnected from the labor force in 2018, and those who were able to find work tended to earn less than other Allegheny County workers.
The analysis found that:
- 52% of the client sample was disconnected from the labor force in 2018.
- Only 24% of the client sample worked in all 4 quarters in 2018.
- Among clients who worked in all 4 quarters, 38% had earnings that fell below the federal poverty line.
- Even when holding constant occupation and industry, DHS clients appear to be working in lower-paying positions than the average Allegheny County worker.
But there were bright spots for some DHS clients:
- 9% of clients had earnings that exceeded the Allegheny County median.
- The utilities industry offered the highest earnings for DHS clients, who had mean earnings of more than $40,000 per year.
By investigating employment experiences, DHS and its partners can gain insight into clients’ economic challenges and tailor services like education and job training to better meet the needs of clients and employers.
Allegheny County homeless service programs are assessed yearly as part of a process of evaluating and prioritizing projects for funding. This evaluation process has historically been based on administrative data about clients’ housing and self-sufficiency outcomes. In order to more fully evaluate these services – and to align with suggestions from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – DHS and other stakeholders are piloting feedback methods and tools to better understand clients’ experience with the services they receive. During the first iteration of the pilot, more than 200 clients receiving a range of homeless services responded to a survey by text, online or in person.
This report describes the 2018 pilot process for the development and administration of the survey, analyzes findings from the survey, and discusses insights and recommendations for future survey administration.
The Homeless Services and Supports Coordination (HSSC) program, implemented by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in 2013, provides comprehensive service coordination for families who use emergency homeless shelters. Upon entering an emergency shelter, participants meet with service coordinators who offer a range of assistance, from accessing public benefits to finding affordable housing, childcare and job training programs.
As part of a wider effort to systematically collect client feedback, a pilot survey was conducted to examine (1) client satisfaction with HSSC services they received and (2) feasibility of using text messaging as a way of gathering feedback from clients in the homeless system. This report presents findings from that survey.
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The dashboard below displays data about homelessness programs in Allegheny County and the clients using them. Data comes from the Allegheny County Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Data is available from January 1, 2014 through the present and is updated daily (with a lag time of one day).