The Glimpse: After bouncing from tents to shelters and back, Pittsburgh homelessness advocate finds an apartment to call home

Howard Ramsey skips down his front steps and rings his own doorbell eight times, bobbing his head to the sound. His dreads whip out from his face as he bounds inside, grinning. He has things to show me. Everything about the basement apartment is worth highlighting. He screws and unscrews the ceiling light, flips his finger across each pantry item, slides open closet doors to show off the breaker panel. “Better Homes and Gardens,” he smiles, and pulls his beloved water pitcher from his fridge with a Vanna White flourish. The joy of having cold water at the ready is not lost on him.Howard Ramsey shows the different canned goods in his apartment kitchen. He said he has stopped visiting the meal distributions in the area now that he is able to have a kitchen at home and prepare food for himself.Howard Ramsey by his tent beside the Monongahela River, on April 17, in the South Side. Howard said he was kicked out of Second Avenue Commons for 24 hours for a nonviolent offense in October 2023. While living on the streets, he urged officials to assign an advocate to help shelter participants to work out disagreements with staff.I first...