An Interview with Allegheny County Senior Manger, Services for Adults Experiencing Homelessness, Gabe Krivosh

Homelessness in Pittsburgh: The Cause, The Effects and The Solutions 

By: Jason A. Mignanelli, Ximing Chen, Augustine Ibeh

Low wages, a lack of affordable housing, severe mental health issues and abundant poverty all continue to drive up the number of homeless throughout Pittsburgh and beyond.

According to Allegheny County Annual Point-In-Time Homeless Count released on Jan. 27, 2021, 692 people are identified as homeless.

Many experts suggest that the main reason for the increasing population of homeless in Allegheny County and beyond is extreme poverty.  Under the  umbrella of poverty are the lack of affordable housing, the absence of a fair and decent wage and growing mental health and drug abuse concerns.

The current labor shortage reflects a long-term struggle of many people to find work that pays enough to support a family.  At the current minimum wage in Pennsylvania of $7.25 per hour, an employee working 40 hours a week brings home approximately $1,044.00 per month after taxes. That is $12,528 per year.

At the same time, “fair market rent,” in Pennsylvania is $1,032 per month for a two-bedroom apartment, according to rentdata.org. Fair market rent is determined each fiscal year by the HUD and is used to set payment standards for federal housing assistance programs in Pennsylvania and elsewhere . Approximately 15% of Americans qualify for some form of rent assistance.

However, the drug abuse and severe mental illness that plague many of the homeless makes earning a stable income and obtaining permanent housing more difficult.

 Mental health disability has been the largest subgroup of those people experiencing homelessness. According to Allegheny County’s Point-in-Time Count, 682 people were experiencing homelessness in 2021, 373 of whom, about half, were due to severe mental illness.

The annual count of the homeless is always low, said Gabriel Krivosh of the Allegheny County Office of Community Services. “It’s nearly impossible to get an accurate count of homeless in our community.” The survey finds those in many of the encampments and shelters.  “But often-times homeless people are squatting in abandoned buildings or bouncing around on people’s couches, making it incredibly difficult to ever get an accurate number,” he said.

Although there is no legitimate solution to homelessness in sight, Allegheny County has begun to see poverty and homelessness as a major issue and has created a team of experts to do outreach and offer assistance to those in need.

The expert team, led by Krivosh, goes out on the streets each day, trying to make contact with the homeless and offer them assistance. Many, however, are unwilling to trust them.

“Most of these people are skeptical of a system that has let them down so many times that they don’t want to speak with anyone,” Krivosh explained.

That attitude hampers the team’s efforts, but Krivosh doesn’t blame the homeless, “I mean, think about how many safety nets have to fail someone for them to end up on the street,” Krivosh said.

Krivosh tries to break through the skepticism by engaging with the homeless person. “I just try to be personal. You know Pittsburgh is actually a pretty small city. Sometimes, I’ll just say, ‘Where ya from?’ And you’d be surprised how much you know about where they are from or a good restaurant in that area or something that you can just talk about. This builds a little trust and kinda breaks down barriers that they might have up,” Krivosh explained.

After establishing trust, Krivosh is able to dig into the heart of the problems that each individual is facing. He is then able to offer specific advice tailored to the needs of that person or family. Although there are many obstacles with getting the homeless the help that they need, many of the obstacles stem from a lack of community resources brought about because of the general misunderstandings that many people in the community have towards homelessness.

“The big problem is education. I just don’t think many people understand homelessness. They see people on the street begging for money, but I don’t think they really get it. These are human beings they are people too and yeah, they might have addiction problems or mental illness but they deserve at the minimum a roof over their heads,” Krivosh said.

Even though much more could be done to combat homelessness in Allegheny County, Krivosh is pleased with the current direction that the city is heading.

“I just can’t say enough about that new shelter that is being built on Second Avenue.”

The new shelter on Second Avenue https://actionhousing.org/second-avenue-commons-is-under-construction/ is a 42,000 square foot complex that can house up to 95 people overnight with 45 single living units. The building will provide shelter for homeless as well as other resources that they may need.

“Don’t get me wrong we are grateful for the church basements that have been used in the past but they really weren’t designed to house people. This new complex has taken every detail into consideration right down to the paint color on the walls,” Krivosh explained.

 

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Watch a video interview with Gabe Krivosh where he talks in depth about some of the issues. 

Interview with Gabriel Krivosh on the cause homelessness main

Video by: Augustine Ibeh

Interview by: Jason Mignanelli and Xi Ming Chen

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It’s Personal:

Homeless, Heroin-Addicted and Helpless – The Life of George and Shirley

By: Jason A. Mignanelli

Every day, George wakes up at 3:45 a.m. and stumbles around to get ready. A short man, weak in stature with olive skin and a goatee, he gets dressed and prepares to spend many hours in the elements. He’s up early to catch the first bus to North Side. If he is late or even misses one day, someone else could move into his corner and force George into a potential confrontation to defend his profitable corner.

His corner is profitable because it is a well-traveled route for people coming to work in Downtown Pittsburgh.  He arrives at his corner around 4:30 a.m. with the intentions of begging as much money as he possibly can before roughly 10 a.m. when the morning rush hour ends.

His normal routine is difficult and humiliating, he admitted, but to make things worse, he is usually hampered by mild sweats, a gargling stomach and severe anxiety. The symptoms are not directly related to his poor health; he is experiencing the beginning stages of opiate withdrawal.

“It sucks, I hate it. But, this is what I have to do to survive.” George explained with a disgusted look on his face.

George has been homeless and severely addicted to heroin for nearly 15 years. He relies on begging or “hustling,” to feed his nearly 2 bundle or 20-stamp-bags-per-day habit.  He also supports the habit of his longtime girlfriend, Shirley.

Shirley is small framed and weak. Her hair is graying and shows little signs of the strawberry blonde color it once was. She admittingly struggles with many health issues each day. Shirley has been with George throughout much of his homelessness, and she says that she is too old and weak to go out and beg anymore.  Shirley is in her early sixties while George is in his late forties.

So, George needs to rope in enough money each day for both of their drug habit’s (roughly $120 per day) and he also must provide food and necessities for both of them. George’s panhandling is the only form of income between them.

Although Shirley no longer has the stamina to beg, she is proud of what she can do. “Even though we spent a long time in tents or other shelters. I’ve always kept a clean place. I would sweep the entrance of our tent and I’d make our bed every day.” said Shirley with a sense of pride.

Many people ask George why he doesn’t just get a job. They say, “If you spent as much time working as you do begging, you could make the same amount of money or more.”   The truth is, George has a-number-of complications that prevent him from being able to work a regular job.  Aside from the legal trouble that follows him, his addiction requires him to earn money each day.  No regular job would pay daily.

“I don’t have a driver’s license or any form of identification.  I have been arrested more times than I can count, mostly for begging, which is a crime in Pittsburgh.  Even if someone did give me a job right now, I couldn’t wait a week for a paycheck. I need money now,” said George.

One benefit that George has obtained by working the same corner regularly is that many of the people who commute on that route each day have even taken a further interest in George beyond seeing him on the corner each day.  They’ve even come to know Shirley.

“I have one rich guy that brings me money every day. He makes me promise that I will get help. I haven’t seen him for a couple of days now because I have been avoiding him. He gave me a specific amount of money to go get an Identification card and I promised him that I would get it with that money.  Needless to say, I didn’t have enough money to get the ID card. So, now I gotta get money somehow and get an ID to show him,” George explained.

George is familiar with being caught in a web if lies wound from his many years of addiction and swindling people for drugs and money.

“I hate lying to him. He is such a nice guy. But, I hate being dope sick even more, I guess,” George said.

Addiction means it’s a never-ending cycle of getting high, getting sick, then getting high enough to relieve the sickness for a few hours and then starting them all over again.  The cycle traps it’s victims in a stranglehold. Furthermore, it has brought George close to death by “falling out,” (or over-dosing) multiple times while mixing a toxic concoction of Xanax and heroin together.

George not only flirts with death by his choice of drugs, he also has to fight for his spot and the right to panhandle the popular corner.

George recalls sleeping in one morning because he was very dope sick and experiencing withdrawal. He was late arriving to his corner and someone else had beat him to it.  Geaorge and the man immediately began to berate one and other and it soon came to blows. George began to fear for his own life.“I had no choice but to pull out my screwdriver because I thought he was going to kill me. I stabbed him a few times in the arm, and he took off running. Now, I gotta watch my back every day,” said George.

Despite the constant pleas from friends and even some family that Shirley has, neither Gorge or Shirley can overcome their addiction.

“I have two beautiful granddaughters. You should see them. One is a model out in California,” Shirley opened her wallet and removed an older photograph of two attractive teenage girls. “This one is 19 and her little sister is 17,” she explained.

“I don’t get to see them very often. I haven’t seen them in probably 5 years now. My daughter doesn’t think that I am in a stable enough environment for them to come visit me, but she says once I get clean, I can come out to California and visit them,” Shirley said.

Shirley seemed saddened by the  eorge quickly spoke up and said, “Yeah we are both gonna get clean and go see Shirley’s daughter. She is loaded with money. She married some rich guy.”

Unhappy with that remark, Shirley blamed George’s unwillingness to check into rehab as the reason they remain stuck in this position.  Yet, her blame is an odd testament to the love they share. Their togetherness is one of the few constants over the years.  In and out of tents and houses and abandoned homes, George and Shirley always held onto each other. So, they either conquer addiction or fail trying, together.

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