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Pittsburgh City Council

Street outreach program looks at an $800,000 boost to reach more homeless residents.

Written by Amy Whipple

A city program to help homeless residents obtain services may soon have its staffing increase by more than 60% which will allow for additional hours of services.

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) awarded the city’s Office of Community Health & Safety (OCHS) a one-year, $800,000 contract. The money will expand the Reaching Out On the Streets (ROOTS) homeless services and street outreach program.

ROOTS began in 2020 to address an excess of emergency calls on unhoused people who didn’t need police intervention. Ben Talik, ROOTS Program Manager, said at council’s June 17 committee meeting that the program can bring in medical and mental health providers, connect people to shelters and even assist with care and shelter for their pets. 

“The idea was making absolutely every service available to people as easily accessible as possible, so people weren’t walking throughout the entire county trying to find an available shelter space or find a doctor that would treat them,” he said.

Currently, ROOTS operates Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 16 staff members. The money will allow OCHS to hire 10 new staff members and expand street assistance hours to 11 p.m. on weeknights and some daytime weekend coverage.

 Council Member Khari Mosley of Point Breeze said that social services provided by the city are limited due to state statutes. “[DHS is] really the partner that we have to lean on when we talk about these challenges that folks face in the neighborhoods around the city, and they call our offices wanting us to do something,” he said. 

Council voted to move forward with accepting the contract.

Connections to this story

Elected officials:
Khari Mosley
Topics:
Housing & Land UsePublic Health
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · June 16, 2026
Sources:
Resolution 2026-0584 — authorizing the Mayor, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Director of the Department of…

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