Pittsburgh’s Housing Stabilization Program is expected to use a full year’s worth of funding in roughly three months, according to information presented last week to the city’s Housing Opportunity Fund advisory committee.
The Housing Opportunity Fund allocated $525,000 to the Housing Stabilization Program for rent assistance during the fiscal year that began in July.
Already, the majority of the fund has been expended, said Kyle Webster, president of housing and general counsel for Action Housing, the nonprofit that administers the Allegheny County Housing Stabilization Collaborative.
The collaborative allows renters to apply one time to be considered for rental assistance through numerous programs, including the Housing Stabilization Program.
Webster said it’s important that renters who may need help realize that the collaborative can still match people with other funding, even if the Housing Stabilization Program runs out of money for its fiscal year early.
Other funding sources include American Rescue Plan dollars, state grants and private funding, he said.
“We still have other funding sources and we still will process applications with those other funding sources,” Webster said. “There is still money available.”
The Housing Stabilization Program was earmarked for only Pittsburgh residents. About 70% of people who apply for rental assistance through the Allegheny County Housing Stabilization Collaborative don’t live in the city and weren’t eligible for cash from that pool of money anyway, he said.
“These funding sources will ebb and flow,” he said. “Sometimes stuff dries up and other stuff will come through.”
The program launched in March and gave out more than $280,000 in rental assistance for low-income Pittsburghers through Housing Opportunity Fund dollars between the launch through June, according to a presentation Webster gave before the advisory board last week.
The last couple of months, Webster said, have seen a “substantial spike” in demand for the funds.
In August alone, the fund gave out more than $162,000 in rental assistance, and Webster predicted it’ll expend more than $100,000 again this month.
He said it was a “faster than expected spend-down.”
“The current allocation, I think it’s enough to get us through the next couple weeks,” he said. “We are spending at a pretty rapid rate.”
He reiterated that there will still be rental assistance money available through other funding streams, and people still should apply if they need help paying rent.
“The program doesn’t end,” he said. “There is still other funding available.”
The program is open to renters who make no more than half of the area median income, or about $29,000 for an individual to $48,150 for a family of six. People can receive a maximum of $6,000 per household.
It was not immediately clear when the Housing Stabilization Program would see its next allocation of Housing Opportunity Fund money.
“We obviously would take more money if there’s more money available, because there is more need,” Webster said.
He said they are working to identify additional funding sources.
City Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, said she would support finding additional cash for the program.
“We still need this funding,” said Gross, who serves on the Housing Opportunity Fund’s advisory committee.
Webster said there’s been higher-than-usual demand for such assistance since the covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid created an unprecedented eviction crisis that we are still working our way out of,” he said. “We are all coming together to try to address this unprecedented crisis together.”
Money from the fund has helped people in every ZIP code in Pittsburgh except Shadyside, he said.
Julia Felton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Julia by email at jfelton@triblive.com or via Twitter .