Councilperson says proposed law would allow city to open homeless shelters without notifying public

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh city leaders are considering legislation that one city councilperson says would allow the city to turn a building such as a school or nursing home into a homeless shelter without notifying neighbors. The proposal has a lot of people concerned.

Channel 11′s Alyssa Raymond spoke with one man who has lived in Pittsburgh’s Elliott neighborhood for more than 60 years. He’s extremely worried about what could happen to the old Thaddeus Stevens school if this legislation passes, and he’s not the only one in that neighborhood with these concerns.

“They’re being sneaky like always,” said Shaquila Horton.

Horton, who lives in Pittsburgh’s Elliott neighborhood, questions the real purpose of proposed legislation by the Planning Commission tied to group homes and homeless shelters.

“Once you sneak them into the neighborhood, then who’s going to actually help them?” asked Horton. “Who’s keeping an eye on them? Then when crime rate goes up in that community, are you going to blame the community versus you did this?”

Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith sent out a letter to her district. What strikes a nerve is where it says the Planning Commission will be able to make decisions for things like changing a school or a nursing home into a homeless shelter without notifying to community. She wants clarity from the Planning Commission on that.

A spokesperson with the mayor’s office sent a response countering Kail-Smith’s claims and said Kail-Smith’s bill will add more time and cost to the process without resolving confusion and redundancy around group housing uses.

From the Planning Commission’s standpoint, the crux of this revolves around the Federal Fair Housing Act. The planning commission says these changes are necessary for the City to be in compliance with this federal act and to avoid housing discrimination.

“City Planning’s Fair Housing bill proposes a change that would allow for that approval administratively as an Administrator’s Exception,” said Office of the Mayor Press Secretary Olga George. “The Zoning Administrator is required to review the change against the same use standards that the Zoning Board currently use for the change of use application, with the change being that the Administrator’s Exception process does not require a public hearing. The Administrator’s Exception process requires a 21-day posting period that involves notices to be placed in highly visible locations on the property. This proposed change comes in response to hearing from group housing providers that the unpredictable, lengthy, and costly process of converting one group housing or institutional use like an unused nursing home, convent, rectory, and similar institutional uses are a major barrier to addressing housing and support needs around homelessness and other group housing communities. The substantive change in the City Planning’s Fair Housing bill will remove costly red tape around changing between one group housing or institutional use and another group housing use.”

The Planning Commission says this will not take away public input. Instead, it merely simplifies the code and removes possible barriers to fair housing.

“City Planning continues to be interested in meeting with neighborhood groups to discuss the details of the bill, hear out any concerns from residents, and provide any potential changes to the proposed legislation as it works its way to City Council,” said George.

“Hopefully, they actually have another meeting other than 2 p.m.,” said Horton. “Make it 6-8 p.m. where people who actually work 9-5 and have children or single moms can actually show up. Put a vote in. You guys vote for everything else. There’s a vote for everything else.”

In Kail-Smith’s letter, she mentioned a public hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. on Oct. 15 regarding this topic. In an e-mail, Press Secretary George wrote, “There is currently no scheduled public hearing before City Council on City Planning’s bill (2024-0984) as the bill from Councilmember Kail-Smith (2024-0701) must be concluded before the City Planning’s bill can be acted on by City Council.”

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