Sara Innamorato has been busy. In her first two years as Allegheny County Executive, she took on the region’s homelessness challenges via the 500 in 500 initiative, which matched 500 unhoused people with stable housing. (It actually moved more than 600.) She launched the Allegheny Forward plan, a 25-year plan addressing everything from infrastructure to economic development, and signed an executive order on housing reform, all while remaining a constant presence in the community, appearing regularly at events and gatherings around the county.
Innamorato — flanked by her rescue dog, Lucy — sat down with Shady Ave to discuss the county’s many assets, the continued fight to improve housing and much more.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato Takes Us Through the Future of Pittsburgh
Shady Ave: It’s a big year in Allegheny County — the NFL Draft, the Arts Festival’s new home, it’s time for the Carnegie International and so much more. What are you excited about this year — and what are you worried about?
Sara Innamorato: The Draft is cool [in that] it’s putting us on a global stage. There are times when I host people from out of town, sometimes internationally, and we’re going around the city or having dinner. They’re like, “I was expecting something completely different — I was expecting smoky skies and heavy industry.” They have this concept of Pittsburgh that is divorced from the current reality. For us to have the opportunity to show the world who we are and what we’ve become, and how beautiful our city is, and all the talent and opportunity that lives here — it’s a really exciting prospect.
I’m excited about how we mobilized around getting public and civic places done — in record time, with Market Square and Arts Landing.
Shady Ave: Arts Landing feels transformative.
SI: Yeah. And it’s festival season! The Arts Festival will be at Arts Landing now, but also the neighborhood festivals and church festivals — all of them are a lot of fun and an opportunity to meet new people and connect with neighbors.
Shady Ave: And the flipside — what worries you? I’m trying to see if you bring up the detour around the Commercial Street Bridge closure.
SI: The Draft will be disruptive to people. I don’t know if you came down during the Taylor Swift concerts, but there was nowhere to park, everyone waited in traffic — but it was cool, because Taylor Swift was here and people booked hotel rooms and spent a lot of money. If you don’t feel like waiting in traffic, just switch your plans — and employers are going to adjust as we need to adjust. County workers are still going to be down here, so we can make it work. And it is construction season, but I always remind people, when they see a detour, it means things are getting fixed, infrastructure is getting improved and people are getting paid! It’s your taxpayer dollars at work. While it’s annoying, it’s also an investment in our shared infrastructure.
Shady Ave: You have a new counterpart across the street. How have you worked with Mayor O’Connor so far?
SI: It’s been really positive. Corey and I have known each other for many years and have been aligned on a number of issues over both of our times in elected office. I’m looking forward to him continuing some of the work that we started under the previous administration, specifically around Downtown. The amount of communication and collaboration that came from our public-safety initiatives — having Pittsburgh Police on board, working with our Department of Human Services, working with their internal offices within the city and with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership — the mayor has bought into that and wants to see that level of communication continue. That can deliver real results to people: A feeling of safety, getting our neighbors in need the help that they need when they need it and just making a better experience when people visit Downtown or come to work.
Shady Ave: Traditionally Shady Ave would focus on the East End, but we want people to look beyond the familiar neighborhoods and suburbs. Based on your experience, where are the corners of the county that people should visit?
SI: If you haven’t been to Madeleine Bakery in Wilkinsburg, it’s awesome … I think our county parks are really valued by the people who know them, but I don’t think they’re recognized enough. They’re on par with some state park systems. We have an active farm — you can drive 45 minutes south from here, still in the county, and you’re in Round Hill Park, which is a demonstration center for conservation and ecologically friendly farming. [They] have cows and pigs and goats and bunnies and chickens —
Shady Ave: And buffalo!
Yes! That’s in South Park — I was gonna mention the buffalo! You can go see a herd of buffalo at South Park. We built these new megaplaygrounds, which are really cool. The wave pools. The ski slope at Boyce Park is awesome — how do you expose your kids to skiing without spending an arm and a leg? For $35 and the rental, you can go up a ski lift and teach your kids. There are these cool, free-to-lowcost amenities that exist all over the county.
Shady Ave: You’ve focused so much on services for unhoused individuals in the county. Where do those efforts stand now?
SI: A few weeks ago, I signed a “Housing for All” executive order — addressing everything from homelessness to home ownership. One of the things that it does is build on our success — success in our home ownership programs. We did a first-time homebuyer program for the first time [in Allegheny County history] … and we housed 622 people [through the 500 in 500 initiative]. While that goal has been achieved and exceeded, all the infrastructure that was built — the bureaucracies that were reconfigured, the relationships that were built, the collaboration that happened — that all continues on. People still become homeless every single day.
We saw an increase in shelter stays from people who tended to be older, over 55. That’s really what’s driving up our homelessness programs. So a lot of these are senior programs by the nature of [who’s] becoming newly homeless, which is very sad and telling about our society, what we prioritize. Many of these folks are first-time homeless. But for a financial situation, [they] would be fine living independently, but the way that housing dollars or homelessness dollars have worked in the past … you have so few dollars to address homelessness, it has to be spent on the most severe cases … [So] you’re essentially saying that someone needs to live in a shelter or outdoors for 30 days before they can get in line for these services.
People who have shown that they are productive members of society and totally capable of contributing — why don’t we help them? It’s much cheaper to help someone before they’re months into homelessness.
Shady Ave: And you don’t want a 70-year-old on the street for 29 days before you can help them.
SI: It’s sad. You just have to go to the shelters to see who’s there. So this was a program that said, “Let’s target this population and let’s move them into safe, stable and affordable housing.” Our housing authorities were a big partner in that — private landlords were a great partner in making units available.
We know that the strongest communities are the ones that are most diverse in many respects, including income and economic level. [So we need to be] making sure that we’re not concentrating poverty and concentrating wealth.
Shady Ave: Housing costs for ownership and rental are a lot higher than they once were — there’s a big difference between the cost of living in Pittsburgh 15 or 20 years ago. What can be done, at a county or city level, to give some relief to renters and home buyers?
SI: We know that the cost of housing is not keeping pace with the wages here. People will point at Pittsburgh and say it’s the most affordable metro, but they’re looking at the [metropolitan statistical area], which is far more than Allegheny County. When you’re talking about desirable housing around opportunity and amenities, that housing is expensive — and on par with other major metros, but our wages are not.
Part of the executive order [is] a re-commitment to renter protections — helping with support for people who are facing eviction. That’s once you get to a state of crisis … that emerged from the COVID era. With homeownership, we’re doing the first-time homebuyer program, [although] that’s only available outside of the city …
We have to build more affordable units, but I remain unconvinced that that is the path to affordability. If you just increase the supply, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s going to be more affordable units …
We should make it easier and more affordable to build. At the same time, if we are offering public incentives or public money into production of spaces, there should be expectations tied to that. These expectations should ensure these apartments include some element contributing back to the public good. This contribution can be around affordability.
Shady Ave: Finally, you already mentioned Madeleine Bakery in Wilkinsburg — but where are your other go-to places around town? When you’re not here or on the job, where are you?
SI: I never go out! I’m such a bummer. I don’t do anything fun. Hemlock House is underrated — it’s very cool. Spirit just opened their pizzeria, which is very exciting. I used to go to Allegheny Wine Mixer all the time. Ritual House has a whole mocktail menu — Downtown in the Union Trust building, it’s great. [But] when I go out, I go out in my neighborhood or I’m at an event — and if I don’t, I’m staying home! I’m ordering Thai Cottage [in Regent Square] take-out. Shout-out to Thai Cottage!
Story by Sean Collier
Photos Courtesy of Allegheny County