CLPHA Press Room

CLPHA’s Membership Spotlight features the outstanding work and achievements of our member public housing authorities - the nation’s largest and most innovative PHAs. Based on interviews with PHA executives, these brief profiles spotlight our members’ initiatives to strengthen their communities and improve life outcomes for their residents. The Membership Spotlight is published in the newsletter, on clpha.org, and on our social media platforms. 

Pittsburgh’s low-income families and public housing residents with nontraditional work schedules have an innovative new childcare option, thanks to the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) and its partners. HACP joined with ABK Learning & Development Center and Duquesne University to bring a childcare facility to HACP’s Bedford Dwellings community that not only addresses the complex childcare needs that low-income workers face, but also integrates crucial early childhood learning strategies to prepare their young residents for school.

The Bedford Hope Center’s ABK branch, located in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, opened in February 2018 and cares for children between the ages of zero and five 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ABK’s around-the-clock hours, rare for a childcare center, offer a crucial service to HACP residents and other low-income families who work nighttime and/or weekend jobs. Additionally, tuition at the center is based on income, ensuring that low-income parents can afford this care. HACP residents enrolled in any of the housing authority’s self-sufficiency programs who are job searching or have job interviews can drop in and utilize the center for free.

HACP’s ABK Learning & Development Center blossomed as the result of crucial partnerships formed by Michelle Sandidge, HACP’s communications director. HACP had previously housed a daycare facility at Bedford Hope Center, but when that facility closed three years ago, Sandidge and the housing authority decided to bring a more comprehensive, valuable childcare option to the space. Knowing that the earliest years of a child’s life are vital to their development and future educational success, HACP wanted to offer the community more than just child supervision – they wanted children’s experiences in the center to set them up for success before they began school.

At the same time, Christopher Meidl, Ph.D. of Duquesne’s School of Education’s Early Childhood Education Program was looking for avenues for community outreach and opportunities for his students to gain hands-on experience in the early childhood education field. After connecting with Sandidge, Meidl and Duquesne proved the perfect partners to help craft an early learning curriculum.

However, while Sandidge and Meidl had the location and early childhood education knowledge, they still needed an experienced, dedicated partner to staff and operate the center. When Sandidge met Lesely Crawford, ABK’s owner and director, she knew that that Crawford’s passion for childcare and experience as a Pittsburgh Public School teacher, a Duquesne graduate, and a former resident of the Hill District community made her the perfect partner to bring the center to life.

While Meidl and his students train ABK’s staff in best practices and gain crucial outside-the-classroom experience for their own studies, Crawford and ABK provide the center with full-service childcare, necessary equipment, and early learning programs on important subjects like literacy, math, and social studies through experiential learning activities. In turn, HACP provides ABK with space and facility maintenance while also maintaining involvement in the center’s activities and referring the center to HACP residents participating in self-sufficiency programs.

Just a few months after opening, HACP’s ABK Learning & Development Center is now at full enrollment with 35 students, though Sandidge notes that they are hoping to expand their capacity to serve more children. HACP also plans to set up another ABK branch in one of their other public housing communities on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Sandidge added that this kind of cross-sector work between the housing authority, the university, and the childcare center is integral to HACP’s mission. “Everyone thinks we’re responsible for building houses,” she said, “But we build homes, we build lives, and that’s what really makes a difference.”

CLPHA member housing authorities are dedicated to improving their residents’ lives, and HACP’s childcare partnership with ABK and Duquesne University demonstrates this commitment by offering an innovative solution to a common problem in low-income households that also sets up their youngest residents for future educational success. This multisector collaboration exemplifies the mission of CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative – to help build a future where systems work together to improve life outcomes. We are proud to have HACP as a member and to champion their efforts to increase positive long-term outcomes for low-income children by seeking out and fostering strong, fruitful partnerships. CLPHA looks forward to hearing about the future of HACP’s comprehensive childcare program and hopes that this center can serve as a model for other housing authorities looking to engage in early childhood learning services.  

Jeffery K. Patterson, CEO of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority of Cleveland, Ohio, and Vice President of the CLPHA Board of Directors, appeared on behalf of CLPHA before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance for a hearing entitled “Oversight of the Federal Government’s Approach to Lead-Based Paint and Mold Remediation in Public and Subsidized Housing.”

Patterson testified along with witnesses Jeremy Kirkland, Acting Deputy Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Karen McKeown, State Health Officer and Administrator, Division of Public Health, Wisconsin Department of Health Services; Rachel Fee, Executive Director, New York Housing Conference, Inc.; Emily A. Benfer, Esq., Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Senior Fellow, Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, Yale Law School; and Julie Brewen, Chief Executive Officer, Housing Catalyst (the housing authority of the City of Fort Collins, Colorado).

The hearing, presided over by Chairman Sean Duffy (R-WI) and Ranking Member Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), sought to examine how HUD programs remedy unsafe living conditions caused by lead-based paint and mold for individuals and families that live in public and subsidized housing, and to review the June 14, 2018 HUD Inspector General’s report entitled “HUD’s Oversight of Lead-Based Paint in Public and Housing Choice Voucher Programs.”

Patterson’s testimony focused on HUD programs that housing authorities are currently using to help correct the conditions and risks posed by environmental health hazards. The programs include the Public Housing Capital Fund, Rental Assistance Demonstration and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Moving to Work, and Healthy Homes. Patterson also spoke to the tremendous need for additional funding resources, and the need for greater collaboration between federal departments and agencies to better leverage their respective resources and expertise in order to address the problems associated with health and safety hazards.

CLPHA greatly appreciates Mr. Patterson’s testimony and support on this important issue.

The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) has earned a perfect score in this year’s Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) review. HACA has maintained a HUD High Performer status under SEMAP for the last 15 years.

The Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority is the latest PHA to launch a local ConnectHome program. ConnectHome Akron, part of the national ConnectHome Initiative started by HUD under the Obama Administration to help bridge the digital divide in low-income communities, will begin by providing free Wi-Fi to 12 high-rise communities that house seniors and people with disabilities.

The Houston Housing Authority has opened Independence Heights Apartments, the housing authority's first new housing development in a decade. Independence Heights will provide 154 mixed income units, with some units set aside for elderly, disabled, and veteran residents.