Pittsburgh's housing authority gets $4.6M boost for voucher program

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh on Monday announced it will receive a 10% increase in funding for its Housing Choice Voucher Program, which aims to help low-income residents find affordable housing options.

The authority is set to receive over $60.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the program — about $4.6 million more than last year’s allocation.

The extra cash will be put toward “a variety of enhancements to the voucher program,” officials said in a press release. That will include $1,000 bonuses for new landlords entering the program and enhanced payments for properties with recent renovations or certain accessibility features.

The housing authority said it also intends to use extra funds to add capacity to the departments and improve customer service for clients and landlords.

“We will be ramping up our staff and simultaneously working to train new and existing staff on how to provide an exemplary customer service experience,” Executive Director Caster Binion said. “We have experienced high levels of staffing turnover within the last year and will be seeking to fill critical positions and to improve lines of communication between staff and landlords and staff and clients.”

The voucher program is the nation’s largest rental assistance program. It helps low-income families and people who are elderly or disabled to rent safe, sanitary housing units in the private market. Housing Choice Vouchers give more than 1 million people nationwide the opportunity to move to safer, less poor neighborhoods each year, according to HACP.

The authority said the program helps to increase housing stability, reduce poverty, help low-wage workers make ends meet, give families access to safer neighborhoods with better schools and allow senior citizens and disabled people to live independently.

HACP currently provides housing to about 5,600 families through the program and works with more than 1,000 landlords.

HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced the funding increases for the voucher program earlier this month.

“We know there is a housing affordability crisis, and this funding will help people who are struggling to find a place they can afford to live, including people experiencing homelessness,” Fudge said. “With the awarding of these funds for housing choice vouchers — which represents HUD’s single largest investment in affordable housing — public housing agencies throughout the country have flexible resources to offer more housing options so that no one is ever denied housing because they are unable to pay the monthly rent.”