Sarah Murphy said she’s struggled to find decent housing for most of her life.

Now, as a mother, Murphy said she’s trying to find housing that is safe for her son, but also affordable. She said that’s a challenge in Allegheny County, particularly as a renter with poor credit who is looking to become a homeowner.

Murphy said she received a housing choice voucher during the covid-19 pandemic that required her to find housing within 60 days, a requirement she ultimately couldn’t meet.

“There’s a lot of barriers to home ownership,” she said. “It’s a daunting task, even to understand mortgages and how everything breaks down.”

Soaring home prices are making an already difficult situation even more competitive, Murphy said, citing statistics showing that the median price for a home increased almost 15% in Pennsylvania last year.

“The need for housing has increased, but the amount of affordable housing is next to nothing,” she said.

Murphy, who has worked undercover for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate discrimination claims, was one of several people who participated in a virtual roundtable on housing hosted by For Our Future PA on Friday. Participants agreed that finding affordable housing in the area remains a challenge, despite an array of programs they highlighted that aim to address the problem.

“Things were pretty tough before the pandemic started, and then I think it’s gotten tougher,” said Chuck Keenan, housing coordinator with the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.

Rents and home prices are rising, leading to stiff competition among renters and homeowners alike.

“Anybody that comes with any kind of a barrier — a criminal record, poor credit, a history of eviction — it’s very difficult for them to compete in this market right now,” Keenan said, adding that evictions have also begun to pick up again now that an eviction moratorium has lifted.

About 11,000 people a year encounter some form of homelessness in Allegheny County, according to For Our Future PA. The county launched a housing navigation unit that aims to help people locate affordable housing.

Nonprofit Action Housing created a program called Just Mediation Pittsburgh to help renters and landlords through the mediation process in an effort to reach a compromise that allows renters to stay in their homes, said Jodi Lincoln, Action Housing’s development manager. The program has resolved more than 300 cases, helping landlords and tenants “negotiate together and come to a solution that works for everybody,” she said.

Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority also offers a range of programs, including a legal assistance program that provides consultation and mediation for renters and foreclosure prevention services for homeowners, according to Evan Miller, manager of residential lending at the authority. Another program helps people with moving costs, application fees and mortgage or utility assistance. The authority also offers deferred loans to help first-time homebuyers with closing costs and loans for developers looking to create more affordable housing.

Other nonprofits are also working to combat the problem, including Bridge Beyond, a nonprofit that brings college students into the work of helping individuals experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

There remains plenty of work to do to combat the problem, advocates said.

“One out of every four people that need or qualify for affordable housing actually get it, (but) there’s a mismatch between the resources and the need,” Keenan said. “The supply and demand is not equal. We’re in a deficit market in terms of supply.”

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