City says it won't remove homeless encampments violating rules until "credible offer of housing" for people
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Homeless encampments are growing in the city of Pittsburgh.
KDKA-TV has found that many are in violation of the city's rules governing encampments. But is the city taking action?
Take the Grant Street ramp off the Parkway East and an encampment of a half-dozen tents is your first sight of Downtown. Just around the bend are eight more tents in front of the Fort Pitt Commons building, a concern to the people who work there.
"I have to be careful coming here as a single female by myself," said Tonya Weimar, a process server. "I come in and out of the building several times a week."
"We have people working here, clients who come in," lawyer John Daley said. "An attorney on the second floor lost a couple of clients because of this."
But the encampments will stay for the time being despite guidelines announced by the city in August that say, among other things, the tents cannot be within 10 feet of a public street or right-of-way.
KDKA-TV's Andy Sheehan: "People are in violation, and yet the city doesn't seem to be enforcing these new regulations."
City Communication Director Maria Montaño: "Before we can do anything, we need to ensure that folks have a credible offer of housing."
Montaño said the guidelines, which also prohibit tents in city parks and on private property, cannot be enforced yet because those living here have nowhere else to go.
"The reality is the vast majority of those individuals who are living in encampments are on a housing list of some sort or another," Montaño said.
People like Elisha, who said she was living in the Smithfield Street shelter until it closed in June and now can't find room at the Second Avenue Commons. She says she is trying to find permanent housing through Allegheny County.
"I haven't heard nothing," she said.
The Allegheny County Department of Human Services declined to comment on the current availability of housing, saying it's finalizing its plans for the winter months and will be announcing those plans within the coming weeks. But office workers have become impatient.
Daley: "You can have sympathy and want to help these people. But at a certain point, something has to give."
Sheehan: "They should enforce those guidelines."
Daley: "Absolutely, why have them then?"
But as the temperatures continue to drop, the encampments continue to grow, as does the frustration over the problem of homelessness in Pittsburgh.