Pittsburgh's URA to provide $800K to stabilize senior housing in Hill District

Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority on Thursday approved using $800,000 in Housing Opportunity Fund money to stabilize two senior living facilities in the city’s Hill District.

The URA will provide a $500,000 loan to Western Manor and $300,000 in grant money to Western Manor and Milliones Manor.

Both facilities sit in the Hill District’s Bedford Senior Campus on Bedford Avenue, where three senior living buildings now occupy a site that formerly housed a tuberculosis hospital, Miller said. Both properties are currently operating without a property manager, and both are in urgent need of repair, Miller said.

“The health, safety and well-being of the senior residents living on this site is of the utmost importance to the URA,” said Diamonte Walker, the URA’s deputy executive director. “We are taking substantive action to stabilize the site’s decaying infrastructure and improve the living conditions for residents.”

Western Manor, a 32-unit facility serving low-income seniors, has failed several Housing & Urban Development assessments and has issues that need to be addressed immediately in order to continue operations. The money from the URA will be used to repair the roof, conduct mold inspections and make other urgent repairs, Miller said, though the site needs more funding for a complete overhaul.

Milliones Manor, a 40-unit low-income housing facility for seniors, has been operating for over 30 years. Its aging building and systems have put financial strain on the property, the URA said.

The investments are “meant to stabilize the operations of these properties in the immediate term” and attract qualified property managers, Miller said.

“What we’re really doing is keeping seniors in their homes,” said City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, a URA board member. “It would be a travesty for those seniors to lose their housing.”

URA board member Lindsay Powell said seniors have been living in “deplorable conditions” in the facilities, and said the URA needs to partner with other organizations to provide more funding.

“It shouldn’t take a crisis” to get investments, said Sam Williamson, chair of the URA Board.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said he would work with HUD and the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh “to ensure this is only the start and that quality, affordable housing investments will prevent further displacement of Pittsburgh residents.”