The Allegheny County Housing Authority is finalizing an arrangement to take ownership of a 30-unit senior apartment building from a nonprofit organization under which the building has struggled.
When the deal is completed, the building will be the first property in the city of Pittsburgh owned by the county’s Housing Authority. Western Manor, located on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District, will be owned by the authority’s nonprofit arm, Three Rivers Communities Inc.
The property will continue to be an affordable building for seniors, according to Richard Stephenson, chief financial officer and chief operating officer for the housing authority.
“Nothing's going to change at all for the residents, except for, I hope, a better-managed facility with all the social services available to them,” he said.
Western Manor is part of a complex of buildings that were once an old tuberculosis hospital; it then was vacant before being purchased in the 1980s by Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. The building is currently owned by the nonprofit Western Manor Inc., which has a board of directors made up of representatives from a number of area nonprofits and organizations.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sends Western Manor an annual rent subsidy. But the HUD structure for buildings such as Western Manor are known to create funding problems that can make upkeep difficult: they were not intended to make money, just enough to cover operations. So while some money is set aside for repairs, it’s often not enough to cover big-ticket items all buildings face eventually, such as an outdated roof or a heating system in need of repair. Problems at the property were highlighted in a 2021 WESA story: Residents at the time complained about unkempt common areas, maintenance issues, and security problems in the building. Several of those residents could not be reached last week.
Western Manor Inc. has no staff, and its board members are not individually responsible for it; their job is to find and hire a management company. As the years went by, the Hill Community Development Corporation was one of the last organizations on the board to exist, or to be active. Ultimately, Western Manor Inc. board member and Hill CDC leader Marimba Milliones took on that responsibility to find a management company.
When reached, Milliones did not provide comment. But Stephenson said the Hill CDC has made improvements at the building since the WESA story, in part due to an influx of funds the group worked to secure from the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority.
Milliones and the Hill CDC have worked to transfer at no cost Western Manor, Inc.’s ownership of the building to the housing authority, rather than sell it.
“It wasn't about making a profit. It wasn't about making anything off of the property. Their focus was keeping affordable housing of the 30 units… for the seniors in the Hill District,” Stephenson said.
The county housing authority has been trying to expand its portfolio of affordable apartments, Stephenson said. Preserving existing affordable homes tends to be cheaper than developing new ones, he added.
Officials hailed the move as a way to stabilize a property whose upkeep has suffered — and to redevelop the larger campus surrounding it.
“By having it come under the county housing authority, that will bring a level of stability and resources necessary” to also improve nearby Milliones Manor and Christopher A. Smith Terrace, which also provide affordable units for seniors, said City Councilor Daniel Lavelle.
The county could pursue “tax credits to rehabilitate it all,” he said.
Before being finalized, the transfer of Western Manor to the county housing authority will require the approval of the agency’s board and HUD.
