The City of Pittsburgh will spend nearly $10 million over the next two years to expand a program designed to assist those experiencing homelessness, substance abuse or untreated mental health issues.
“It gives the police a tool to utilize when they have someone who is not necessarily doing anything criminal but needs some assistance,” said Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt about the program during a City Council meeting last week.
Council unanimously approved a $9,960,000 contract Wednesday with Allegheny Health Network to expand the Reaching Out on The Streets — or ROOTS — program which deploys outreach workers to respond to people in crisis. The ROOTS team also collaborates with social workers employed by Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Police, according to Schmidt.
A pilot version of the program was launched in 2020 with funding from the federal CARES Act.
Council members applauded that effort last week. District 4 Councilor Anthony Coghill, who chairs a committee studying the issue of homelessness in Pittsburgh, said expanding ROOTS will help ease demand on a new 24/7 homeless center Downtown. Second Avenue Commons, a five-story shelter, drop-in center and clinic, has reportedly been at capacity shortly after it opened last month.
Coghill said it’s critical that the city use the ROOTS outreach workers to engage with homeless residents.
“They're the people that go under the bridges into the encampments [and] analyze who needs to be where,” he said. “They’re boots on the ground.”
Though she supported the bill Wednesday, Council President Theresa Kail-Smith expressed concerns about changes to the city's policing strategy, and wondered whether those efforts have yielded positive results.
“We’ve tried so many programs since I've been here to stop violence, to address crime, to help people with mental health issues, to do all sorts of things,” Kail-Smith said. “And I don't see any results. What I see is increased crime.”
Kail-Smith worried the funds could be better spent toward hiring more police officers. Pittsburgh is budgeted to staff 900 uniformed officers, but has struggled to do so in recent years. Kail-Smith said she wants to see how the program is improving outcomes.
“I really hope that we deliver this year on some significant changes,” Kail-Smith said. “I’m telling you, I want to see results.”
Police officials characterized the program as a tool to better respond to incidents where an officer may not be needed. Schmidt stressed that ROOTS has also created an important channel of communication between first responders and the community.
“Historically, when a police officer or a paramedic or a firefighter engages with a person and they connect them with services, we never know what happens,” Schmidt said. “That’s the last we know what happened to that person.”
By contrast, if a person engages with the ROOTS team, police will be made aware. That way, they can send an outreach worker if that person is in crisis again, according to Schmidt.
Once the new contract is finalized, the ROOTS program will expand into all six Pittsburgh Police zones, according to Schmidt. Hubs currently exist in three zones, with locations along East Ohio Street in the North Side, Smithfield Street Downtown and Frankstown Avenue in Homewood.
The money will go toward staffing the hubs and placing beds where needed as well as purchasing medical vans and supplies.
