{"id":323099,"date":"2026-11-07T12:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T12:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/323099\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T12:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T12:34:20","slug":"former-event-space-in-pittsburghs-polish-hill-neighborhood-eyed-as-potential-homeless-shelter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/323099\/","title":{"rendered":"Former event space in Pittsburgh&#8217;s Polish Hill neighborhood eyed as potential homeless shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Allegheny County has its sights set on a six-story building on Bigelow Boulevard, which is on the market for $1.5 million, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zillow.com\/homedetails\/3567-Bigelow-Blvd-Pittsburgh-PA-15213\/2076555487_zpid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-absolute=\"true\">according to a Zillow listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It was a former event space. Now, the county wants to use the building as an overnight shelter.<\/p>\n<p>The Allegheny County Department of Human Services wants to turn the building into a year-round overflow shelter, serving 80 to 100 people and up to 150 during severe weather.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just think there are better locations, better buildings that aren&#8217;t on a high-speed highway,&#8221; said resident Talon Pionati.<\/p>\n<p>Pionati lives on Bigelow Boulevard. Her concern over the proposed plan is about the safety of all, including those experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also know that sometimes people living in active addiction or dealing with mental health don&#8217;t always make the best decision,&#8221;  Pionati continued. &#8220;We just want more resources as a neighborhood when those decisions affect us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Human Services wants to use three floors of the building for storage, while the other three would be housing services.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do have some concerns, but it&#8217;s also the right thing to do,&#8221; said Dave Rollinson.<\/p>\n<p>Rollinson works next door at HEBI Robotics. He has a different take on the proposed shelter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know it&#8217;s controversial and always tough when it comes to where to put these things, but I&#8217;d like to see us take a chance at it before we&#8217;re all against it,&#8221;  Rollinson said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not something where I want to shut something down out of the gate because these things have to go somewhere. In the grand scheme of things, this part of Bigelow Boulevard doesn&#8217;t seem like the worst place in the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another hearing on this proposal is expected on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allegheny County has its sights set on a six-story building on Bigelow Boulevard, which is on the market&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[894,391,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-323099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-allegheny-county","tag-homelessness","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}