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Allegheny County programs to prevent homelessness and assist unhoused people could use existing resources more effectively, but they also desperately need additional funds, according to an audit by the county controller’s office.
The report, released Thursday, recommends that the county Department of Human Services works to reduce stays at local emergency shelters and waitlists for transitional services such as bridge housing. But County Controller Corey O’Connor stressed that eliminating homelessness in the county will require buy-in from government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private companies.
“We need more money. We need more resources. But we also have to start putting emphasis on new housing, new locations for individuals — not necessarily more shelters, but more space,” O’Connor said.
The number of people experiencing homelessness has grown steadily since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has become more visible in Allegheny County and across the country. Rising rent prices and a limited supply of housing have pushed more people out of permanent homes and in search of temporary shelter.
Allegheny County’s Point-in-Time count, which tracks the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night, has increased every year since 2022. The count is conducted each year but fluctuates based on volunteer surveyors, weather conditions and areas surveyed. It is just one measure DHS uses to estimate the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
But auditors said the uptick indicates what many residents have anecdotally observed: More Allegheny County residents are experiencing homelessness this year than in the previous year. During the last Point-in-Time count in January, the homeless population was 1,164 people — an increase of 31% since 2020.
Roughly 1,000 of those people stayed in one of the county’s 15 emergency shelters, which according to the audit, are now housing people far beyond the 30-day goal set by DHS. Stays ranged from a low of one day to a high of 1,551 days, which auditors described as “excessive.” About 41% of people stayed more than 30 days. Individuals spent an average of 47 days in the shelters.
Most of the emergency shelters remained well-used during the audit period; they were about 70% occupancy for most of the fiscal year.
At the same time, the county’s bridge housing programs struggled to operate near full capacity. Bridge housing is a transitional service meant to span the gap between stays in emergency shelters and stable, long-term housing. Residents receive temporary housing and supportive services such as case management while preparing to live independently. Auditors found that none of the county’s six bridge housing programs was filled to capacity during any quarter during the audited fiscal year, and occupancy rose above 70% approximately a third of the time.
Units remained vacant even while the waiting list for them grew, auditors said. At the end of 2023, 380 people remained on the list for bridge housing, potentially extending their stay at shelters or on the streets.
In a written response, DHS Director Erin Dalton said the gap between total capacity and total occupancy in bridge housing programs “is expected due to systemic inefficiencies,” including challenges identifying eligible apartments, time needed to perform necessary repairs and cleaning after a unit’s previous occupant moves on, and staff turnover and vacancies.
She also said that, although it is important, bridge housing makes up a small fraction of DHS’s overall housing strategy; during the audit period, just 148 beds were part of the program.
DHS is attempting to close some of the gaps identified in the audit. The department “regularly monitors bed/unit utilization, alongside other key metrics,” Dalton said, adding that the overall performance of the bridge housing program has improved since the audit was conducted. The program has since reached an 88% occupancy rate, and new investments will increase housing capacity by 33%.
She also noted that the inefficiencies in the bridge housing system and the long stays in shelters are “largely fueled by a significant increase in the cost of housing, particularly at the lower end of the rental market, coupled with post-pandemic staffing issues.”
The lack of affordable housing is “driving increases in homelessness and reducing flow in the system,” Dalton wrote. “People become unhoused because they cannot afford increased housing costs, and they have a harder time exiting shelter and homelessness because they cannot afford increased housing costs.”
“Connection to permanent housing is the best way to ensure formerly unhoused people achieve long-term stability,” she said.
Auditors also recommended that DHS strengthen its internal controls and documentation.
The inescapable takeaway from the audit, O’Connor said, is that DHS doesn’t receive enough state funding to fully administer the county’s Homeless Assistance Programs.
DHS got $2.6 million from a state grant intended to cover the program’s costs during the fiscal year covered by the audit. But HAP expenditures during that time exceeded $12.6 million — meaning the county had to use funds that could have benefitted other programs to cover the cost. (About $1.7 million was spent on bridge housing and $4.6 million on the emergency shelter program).
“Those are services that you need $10 million for,” O’Connor said. “If we take away from one service, those individuals are going to suffer as well.
“You're actually robbing Peter to pay Paul in so many ways.”
Dalton said DHS plans to work with county and state officials to boost state funding on HAP and noted that the county could receive up to an additional $500,000 for the programs next year, thanks to a planned state increase in spending on the program.
County Executive Sara Innamorato’s “500 in 500” plan, which aims to move people out of shelters and into 500 newly created or identified units of deeply affordable housing within 500 days, also should help address some of the concerns detailed in the audit.
“If people are stuck in bridge housing and they want to move to affordable housing or the next step where there's going to be services that are going to help those individuals, if there's nowhere to go, what are they supposed to do?” O’Connor asked.
“The entire housing process has to be changed. We need more housing; we need more units. And we should have had this conversation a few years ago. And that's why everybody's suffering now: because you're four or five years behind the times.”
The funds audited are just a fraction of what the county spends each year on homeless services. O’Connor said his office will do additional audits on DHS spending in the future.
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