Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh

The Program Serves a Population with Great Needs:
The STARS program provides emergency rental and foreclosure assistance and intensive case management aimed at long term eviction/ foreclosure prevention to low-income African American female heads of households earning up to 250% of the federal poverty level from throughout Allegheny County.  In FY 2007 the agency's Housing Department was unable to provide eviction assistance for approximately 967 single mothers with children due to funding limitations and lack of skills to navigate the complicated path to adequate assistance.  This program will serve 150 families per year for three years by using United Way funding for an additional case manager and a part time program assistant.  

The Program Achieves Measurable Results:
In FY 2007 the Urban League's Housing Department served over 11,000 (non-distinct) clients and provided over 40,000 services.   In a typical year, the Housing Department:

• Saves 23% of clients from eviction and foreclosure; and
• Facilitates links to alternative resources or provides monetary assistance to 77% of clients.

The Program Utilizes A Sound Approach:
The Housing Department estimates that approximately 75 individuals contact them per day seeking rental and/ or mortgage foreclosure assistance.  With United Way support, the program provides expedited assistance to those seeking service who are African American single female heads of households.  In return, the individuals served commit to participation in intensive case management services focused on household budgeting, accessing regional services, and overcoming other barriers to increasing household income.  The case management/ counseling offered is based on the best practice, research-based National Housing Counseling and Foreclosure Counseling standards adopted by the Urban League.   The program is a demonstration project, and the agency has allocated $15,000 of their program budget towards project evaluation by the University of Pittsburgh's Dr. Hide Yamatini.  If this agency is successful in engaging and retaining clients in the proposed case management services, then there is potential of creating community-wide impact through the development of an effective model to prevent/ reduce evictions among young parents. 

The Proposal is Aligned with Preferred Outcomes:
This program aligns with the following preferred RFP outcomes:

• Prevent Homelessness
  • 105 or 70% of clients per year will have maintained their agreements with their landlords or mortgage companies for at least 6 months.
  • 105 of 70% of clients per year will have safe and affordable housing after 9 months.
• Increase Household Financial Knowledge and Build Savings
  • 120 or 80% of clients per year with review and discuss their credit report and ways to improve their credit score.