Pittsburgh-Develop PGH Bulletins: As Allegheny County Eviction Cases Mount, State Lawmakers Call For A Halt

Pittsburgh PA

07 January, 2021

9:53 AM

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Public Source By Rich Lord | January 6, 2021 Develop PGH Bulletins updates you on the Pittsburgh region's economy, including close coverage of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, City Planning Commission and other important agencies. Please check back frequently, sign up for the Develop PGH newsletter and email [email protected] with questions, tips or story ideas. 1/4/2021: With hundreds of eviction hearings pending locally, lawmakers call for new moratorium With a federal curb on evictions now set to expire at the end of this month, Democrats in Pennsylvania's General Assembly are urging a more complete state moratorium that would bar forced dislocations through at least April. A quartet of state lawmakers announced Monday that they were introducing legislation that would bar evictions and foreclosures until 60 days after the expiration of the state disaster declaration, which currently runs through February. That declaration does not bar evictions. The lawmakers said they want a new eviction moratorium to extend a few months beyond the end of the pandemic emergency, to allow for a gradual return to normalcy. One of the four, Rep. Sara Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville, said that evictions cause "unspeakable pain" for families, including those with children, and should not happen during an epidemic that has compromised peoples' incomes and threatened their health. "More and more families were living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic," she said, "and now millions of them find themselves without that paycheck." She cited research suggesting that, at a time when transience could contribute to the spread of COVID-19, every 60 evictions can spur one additional death. "It is a public health issue, and we need to take action as a legislature" to reduce it, she said. She was joined by state Sen. Vincent Hughes and senator-elect Nikil Saval, and state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, all Philadelphia Democrats. They said they were distributing memos seeking cosponsors in both chambers, and were hopeful that they would be joined by some of the majority Republicans. There was no immediate response to PublicSource's inquiries to spokespersons for the Republican caucuses. The Democrats said they had heard from landlords concerned about the effects of a ban, and believed that a combination of an eviction moratorium and an effective statewide rental assistance program would serve both sides of the rental housing equation. They said the federal government is sending the state $852 million that it can use for rental assistance and related services. "The majority of landlords are small, mom and pop businesses," said Innamorato. She worried that ineffective rental assistance could force some landlords to sell their holdings to large, corporate landlords. "I, for one, do not want that in my neighborhoods." Evictions were largely barred from mid-March through the end of August. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order restricted, but did not ban, evictions nationwide starting Sept. 4. An Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas emergency order also halts progress on some eviction cases through the end of this week. As a result, evictions have continued, though at a lower level than was seen prior to the pandemic. Foreclosures likewise remain far below historic norms. In a separate interview, Anne Wright, a researcher with Carnegie Mellon University's Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment [CREATE] Lab researcher, told PublicSource that there are now 469 hearings in landlord-tenant cases scheduled for next week before district judges in Allegheny County. She called those hearings, which are typically held in-person, a potential "superspreader event" that could facilitate the spread of COVID-19. Wright said some district judges are still issuing orders of possession, which allow the landlord to have the tenant forcibly removed from a property. CREATE Lab has been working with a network of advocates and attorneys to help families facing eviction. 1/4/2021: Construction permitting down, but not out, in Pittsburgh Pittsburgh saw a dip last year in construction permit activity, apparently driven by the eight-week pause in the construction season that followed COVID-19's mid-March arrival in the region, according to Sarah Kinter, the city's director of Permits, Licenses and Inspections [PLI]. "Overall, we're seeing a really strong construction market," said Kinter, in an interview with PublicSource. She added that PLI responded to the pandemic by eliminating paper applications, and the all-electronic process and chat function available at the city's permitting website have streamlined her department's processes. The city issues building permits, plus permits for electrical, mechanical, fire alarm, demolition and other types of work. Overall, the city issued 9,107 permits last year, down nearly 12% from 2019 levels, she said. Commercial permit approvals were down 13%, while residential permit approvals dipped 11%, she said. A measure of proposed construction activity is permit applications, some of which are never approved. Those were down nearly 15% from 2019 levels. A 24% plunge in commercial building permit applications which was partially offset by very stable residential building permit requests. Kinter said some people apparently filed residential permit applications in hopes of improving their home-offices, but then abandoned those bids because they couldn't find contractors with capacity. She said that in 2020, her staff had to shift gears repeatedly, from enforcing a ban on construction in early spring to addressing a surge in late spring, while doing more work remotely. She said the department expects "a spike" when the economy's health rebounds. Will her department be able to handle a spike? The city's COVID-driven budget crunch has prevented PLI from filling two construction inspector positions and an application technician post, she said, and prevented some back office hires. If the federal government does not aid cities, she said, "there are some additional cuts we'd have to consider as of July 1, 2021, and those would really be harmful to our operations." She had not yet mapped out the potential cuts. December recap: News from the City Planning Commission, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and more 21, 20, 19 … As Pittsburgh counts down to a new year amid the COVID-19 economy, 2020's development questions await 2021's answers. 'Throwing everything against the wall,' Pittsburgh's housing authority aims to dent lengthy waiting lists 'A big elephant in the room.' A McKeesport mother's months-long battle to save her house has her home for the holidays, with a deadline looming. PPP poured more than $1.5 billion into Pittsburgh. Did it go to the businesses that needed it most? Develop PGH archives House hunters: How an anti-blight law has become a tool for ambitious landlords in Allegheny County All on board? Powerful Pittsburgh-area panels are more diverse, but progress is uneven A tale of two districts: In Strip and Firstside, the Peduto administration cheers some development, stops other plans Not over in the Hill: Neighborhood leaders say the Penguins are coming up short November development coverage Rich Lord is PublicSource's economic development reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @richelord. Develop PGH has been made possible with funding from The Heinz Endowments. This article was produced by PublicSource.org, a nonprofit news organization serving the Pittsburgh region. 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