Pittsburgh to provide legal assistance and other support to tenants in need

A portion of the money from Pittsburgh’s Stop The Violence fund will be used for tenant protection resources after final approval by the City Council on Wednesday.

The measure allocates money for eviction prevention by offering supportive services for low-income tenants (those with incomes at or below 80% of the area median) facing housing instability. Those funds can be used to provide free legal representation to tenants facing eviction in court, along with landlord-tenant mediation and help accessing rental assistance.

“Investing in mediation, resource discovery and legal assistance from the beginning is better for our families and the system as a whole,” bill sponsor Deb Gross told WESA on the eve of its passage.

All council members except Theresa Kail-Smith signed on as co-sponsors. Kail-Smith, who had previously expressed concerns about oversight of the city’s trust funds, was also the only one to vote against the legislation on Wednesday.

After the vote, Kail-Smith said she supported helping residents stay in their homes but would have preferred to see money for renter assistance taken from somewhere other than the Stop the Violence fund, such as a Housing Opportunity Fund focused on providing more affordable housing options.

“Stop the Violence funding is all about ending violence,” she said. “Getting people into housing is a top priority, but… there are a lot of separate efforts and I think it would actually be more beneficial to bring all of these efforts together and help people navigate the system.”

“I think the ultimate goal is to make sure that people stay in their homes, that they find accommodation and that we’re not creating additional problems or victims because we’re not doing it right,” Kail-Smith added.

The measure would direct up to 20% of revenue from the Stop the Violence Fund, which is set as a percentage of the city’s budget, to police. Mayor Ed Gainey spoke in favor of the initiative when it was proposed earlier this summer.

“As we heard in public testimony, we know that it is in our poorest neighborhoods, and especially in our female-headed households in those poorest neighborhoods, where we see the highest number of evictions,” Gross said when the measure was discussed at a council meeting last week.

By keeping households stable, Gross stressed at the time, the program will benefit tenants, landlords and the surrounding community.

“It is in the public interest and the health of our city to reduce that number and help lower the eviction rate.”

Organizations speak out in support

On Wednesday, the Council approved the bill without much fanfare. However, representatives from community and housing advocacy groups spoke in favor of the legislation during a public comment session last week. A similar slate of groups came together to advocate for the “right to counsel” earlier this year.

David Breingan, executive director of Lawrenceville United and co-chair of the Pittsburgh Housing Justice Board, told the council the program could help create a stronger community.

“Evictions have absolutely devastating effects on households, but also on communities at large,” she said last week. “In communities like ours in Lawrenceville, we’ve seen massive levels of displacement as the housing market has changed. So, really, the right-to-counsel policy is about ensuring that all tenants are represented if they’re facing eviction so that we can keep more families in their home.”

Landlords can benefit from provisions in the legislation that help tenants access rental assistance, he said.

Based on experience in the neighborhoods where the program has been offered, “a lot of people are facing a one-time emergency,” she added. “Having that resource navigator to connect with rental assistance, mediation or whatever is needed to help stabilize that housing, not just during the eviction, but long-term, is really critical to addressing our housing crisis where it is most acutely felt.”

Sam Schmidt, a housing justice advocate who has experienced homelessness, said last week that legal protections for tenants can help prevent illegal evictions and people from being left behind.

“While these measures are not the ultimate solution,” Schmidt said, “they are necessary to protect our neighbors from the worst abuses of a system that prioritizes profits over people.”