Pittsburgh City Paper sat down with Swanson and Andrews to discuss Swanson’s time at ACTION Housing and Andrews’s vision for the future of the organization.
Although the challenges facing Andrews will be great, the satisfaction of hearing how their work impacts their residents is truly rewarding. “You meet someone whose house just got weatherized, or one of our youth have aged out of foster care where we've provided them with an apartment, and then they ended up getting a doctorate from Duquesne,” she tells City Paper. “These individual stories, every program that we operate, changes people's lives. Those individual stories are worth so much.”
Swanson says his largest challenge was explaining and convincing people of the necessity and importance of affordable housing when he started his work with Action Housing. Andrews’s challenges will be far greater as the cost of construction continues to rise, federal funding dwindles, and the number of people needing affordable housing continues to climb. Add to that an uncertain political future and a possible increase in eviction filings, and it is clear why ACTION Housing sought someone with business acumen, an understanding of large-scale real estate development, optimism, and an unfailing love for Pittsburgh.
As the conversation turns from the past to the future, it becomes clear that where Swanson paints a picture, Andrews makes a plan — this will be necessary as an increasing number of programs overseen by other government entities have been transferred into the hands of ACTION Housing over the last couple of years.
ACTION Housing manages Pennsylvania's largest weatherization program, a home repair program, real estate development, operating an affordable rental portfolio, and providing supportive services for those at risk of homelessness. These efforts support the most at-risk Pittsburghers, including youth aging out of the foster care system, people with disabilities, and residents transitioning out of homelessness.
Photo courtesy of ACTION Housing
ACTION Housing worked with Bethlehem Haven to renovate 26 units of support housing for women.
In all, ACTION Housing has developed over 4,500 affordable housing units since they started doing real estate development in 1985. As funding and costs have increased over the last five years, so has the scale of projects, with one totaling $26 million in total development costs.
The Eviction Lab estimates that, on average, 50 evictions are filed every day in Pittsburgh. ACTION Housing and many of its partner organizations stepped in to offer everything from mediation services to rent assistance especially over the last 4 years. Swanson estimated that ACTION Housing and its partners doled out more than $100 million in federal rental assistance since 2020, but, as federal funding runs out, many of their partner organizations are now downsizing. Some people who relied on their aid will be without a safety net when the funding runs out. The eviction rate will most certainly rise in the coming years without additional federal aid.
Andrews and Swanson are quick to point out that Pittsburgh’s nonprofit sector has been responsive and will continue to help however it can as the housing market continues to change. Although the East End has seen a drastic increase in rental prices, Swanson points out that there are still many areas close to the city with affordable housing. As the city grapples with downtown appraisals and its future budget, Swanson considers it likely that taxes will increase to fill the gap in funding for public schools in the city.
The significance of becoming a female executive director for an organization that has a seat at the table for public policy decisions is not lost on Andrews. “When I came back to Pittsburgh after college, I was shocked by the lack of diversity in leadership. It’s improved since then, and I’m honored to join the ranks of a more diverse group of leaders in Pittsburgh,” she tells CP.
“I wouldn’t be able to do my work if I wasn’t optimistic about Pittsburgh,” Andrews says. She lives by the motto “Be the Engine” — which can be found on some of BikePGH’s stickers.
“We have a responsibility to the people that we serve and to the city of Pittsburgh. I mean, we house thousands of people. We provide assistance to thousands of people. We provide weatherization to thousands of people. We raise tens of millions of dollars,” Andrews says. Her message is clear: “We are not just an organization. We are supporting lots of low-income residents in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh region, and it is crucial that we be able to not just continue what we're doing, but that we can thrive as an organization and attract the best talent and attract resources. Really be the best ACTION Housing, Inc. that we can be and that's what I want to create.”
