Hundreds of homeless people throughout Allegheny County were placed on waiting lists for transitional housing last year while dozens of housing units sat empty, according to an audit from county Controller Corey O’Connor.

O’Connor’s audit — which examined how the county’s Department of Human Services spent state money on a homeless assistance program from July 2022 through December 2023 — revealed that available beds often weren’t being used.

Up to 58 transitional housing units — out of 148 covered by the audit — were empty at one point while more than 400 people sat on waiting lists for those spots.

“When somebody’s out there freezing and we have an empty space, that’s just not acceptable,” O’Connor said.

The audit, O’Connor said, showed backups in the systems meant to help homeless people transition to stable housing. It found inefficiencies in the county’s transitional housing services and longer-than-expected stays in emergency shelter.

Ideally, people would spend no more than 30 days in an emergency shelter. They would then be moved to transitional housing. County officials aim to have people out of that program and into permanent housing within 18 months.

But, O’Connor said, there’s a ripple effect that starts with a lack of affordable housing and ends with people waiting months to exit emergency shelter.

People in transitional housing can’t find permanent housing to move into, meaning they stay in bridge housing longer. That means their beds aren’t being freed up for people in emergency shelters.

“People are in limbo in certain areas of transition because there’s not enough space,” O’Connor said.

In a written response to the audit, Department of Human Services Director Erin Dalton said units were likely vacant because of turnaround time to clean and repair rooms, get paperwork in place and make other necessary preparations for new residents.

Already this year, Dalton said, transitional housing units are filling up more efficiently, with an 88% occupancy rate in the first quarter of 2024.

Homeless numbers surge

In part because of the backups in the transitional housing system, people are staying in emergency shelters longer, the audit showed.

About 41% of people in emergency shelters remained beyond the county’s 30-day goal, O’Connor found.

Over 1,000 people were stuck in emergency shelters for over three months during the time frame studied in the audit.

Since 2019, the length of emergency shelter stays has increased by about 25%, according to data from the human services department.

Those longer stays reduce the flow of people moving through shelters, leaving fewer beds available for people living outside, Dalton said.

This comes amid a spike in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Allegheny County.

In January 2021, the county’s homeless population stood at 689 people. In January of this year, that number reached 1,164 people, according to county data.

Domino effect

O’Connor’s audit also acknowledged there’s not enough funding to keep up with the increasing demand for homeless assistance.

O’Connor said more money from the state, as well as local nonprofit and philanthropic partners, could help fill gaps in the system.

The county spent $12.6 million in state funding for the Homeless Assistance Program — much of which was initially earmarked to address mental health services — during the span of the controller’s audit.

In total, the county spent more than $37.5 million last year on programs to tackle homelessness. Over half of that money went to transitional or permanent housing.

While O’Connor said more money would help the county to better address the problem, he reiterated that the county should be more efficient with the resources it has.

O’Connor this week told TribLive there are larger systemic issues at play beyond what’s included in his audit.

To fix the backlog in the shelter and transitional housing systems, he said, the region needs to bolster its housing stock overall. That includes market-rate and affordable units for all incomes, O’Connor said.

If there aren’t permanent homes available for all income levels, people who might be able to afford pricier units stay in more affordable ones. That exacerbates the lack of affordable homes available to people in transitional housing, who in turn don’t move out of the transitional units people in shelters want to move into.

“There’s a domino effect all the way down,” O’Connor said.

Stalling growth

Dalton pointed to County Executive Sara Innamorato’s 500 in 500 initiative — which aims to build 500 new affordable housing units within 500 days — as an example of how the county is working to address the broader housing issues contributing to an increase in homelessness.

“The inefficiencies in the bridge housing system and the long stays in shelter are largely fueled by a significant increase in the cost of housing, particularly at the lower end of the rental market, coupled with post-pandemic staffing issues,” Dalton said in a written response to O’Connor’s audit.

Alleviating barriers to building more housing at all levels would help fix the problems, O’Connor said.

“You can’t stall projects from happening,” he said. “If there’s a building that’s going to have affordable units, why are they stuck in permits and planning? This is what we need to focus on. The more you stall growth and the ability to build housing that’s going to help everyone, there’s where you get stuck with the larger issue.”

O’Connor also highlighted the need for additional support services to ensure people can succeed once they are in transitional or permanent housing.

Some people need help learning basic skills, like how to handle a checkbook, O’Connor said, or connecting with additional resources.

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