Open letter from advocates for unhoused people calls on Downtown shelter to stop kicking people out for ‘minor infractions’

Activist and community organizer Sam Schmidt and Howard Ramsey, currently living on the streets, both of the Our Streets Collective, leave Second Avenue Commons after delivering a letter to staff and Mercy leadership, Friday, April 19, 2024, in Uptown. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource) A letter raises questions about “exiting” policies at Second Avenue Commons, which has been part of Allegheny County’s answer to homelessness and behavioral health challenges. by Eric Jankiewicz& and& Stephanie Strasburg, PublicSource Emerging from its second winter season, the Second Avenue Commons facility in Pittsburgh is facing criticism from housing advocates, homeless outreach workers and an elected official who delivered a list of concerns on Friday morning.& The county opened the five-story facility in November 2022, and it has 43 single-room-occupancy units, 95 year-round shelter beds and 40 overflow beds available for the winter months. Under a& low-barrier model, the shelter’s operator Pittsburgh Mercy has said they serve people regardless of any substance use disorder or other behavioral condition.& But an open letter to the shelter, authored by the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Union of the Homeless and with 17 signatories, said there were numerous examples of shelter users getting kicked out for unspecified “minor infractions,”...