A Walk on the Wild Side (Tioga, Penn: work, home, college)

[razzy]

I'm still learning about Pittsburgh, so I have a question or two...

Homewood, as I see on the map, is a neighborhood near the eastern border of Pittsburgh. Why is that particular neighborhood so bad when presumably older neighborhoods lie to the east and are apparently better ones? And is that the absolute worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh? What kind of housing is in the area?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by razzy

Homewood, as I see on the map, is a neighborhood near the eastern border of Pittsburgh. Why is that particular neighborhood so bad when presumably older neighborhoods lie to the east and are apparently better ones?

There is better quality architecture to the east. Homewood is fairly isolated too so there isn't a strong retail commercial area to support it. Some might say it's because of race; however, East Liberty and Highland Park have a large black population and those areas are much safer than Homewood.

Originally Posted by razzy

And is that the absolute worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh?

It's among the top 5. It's extremely dangerous. There are shootings regularly there.

Originally Posted by razzy

What kind of housing is in the area?

It's hard for me to explain. They are mostly small frame houses that now have old aluminum siding on them. Granted, most of the siding has been stolen off of many of the properties for scrap. There are deteriorated brick buildings too. I'll find some pictures for you and post them shortly.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by razzy

I'm still learning about Pittsburgh, so I have a question or two...

Homewood, as I see on the map, is a neighborhood near the eastern border of Pittsburgh. Why is that particular neighborhood so bad when presumably older neighborhoods lie to the east and are apparently better ones? And is that the absolute worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh? What kind of housing is in the area?

Yeah, Homewood is pretty much the worst. If it's not the worst, then it's tied for a couple others that are also so bad that degrees of "badness" are no longer meaningful.

As for why it's one of the worst when others nearby are better... it would take too long to explain all of the historical, sociological, economic, cultural and even topographical factors that made it so in a web forum post.

Housing in the area is primarily smallish, narrow, wood-frame single-family homes, some converted to two-flats. There are also a few apartment complexes, but nothing terribly big. Houses tend to be pretty close together, except when this pattern is interrupted by vacant lots. Click here for a satellite close-up of a typical portion of Homewood.

[Hopes]

Razzy,

Below are some Homewood Streets on the Allegheny County Real Estate assessment website. Click on any of the houses and you'll see a little tab at the top for "images." Click on that and you'll see a picture of the properties.

Allegheny County Assessment

Of specific interest is the following: Allegheny County Assessment

ALL of those buildings are worth a total of only 84k.

Allegheny County Assessment

Notice all the vacant land on every street.

Many of the properties are vacant too. They're just shells that drug addicts and homeless people live in.

You can look up any streets you like on the following website page:

Allegheny County Assessment

Use the following map to get your street names.

Homewood, PA, USA - Google Maps

Brushton is also part of Homewood. It's actually worse the farther you get into it.

All you need to do is put in the street name. The area is the Pittsburgh 13th Ward.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Drover

Houses tend to be pretty close together, except when this pattern is interrupted by vacant lots. Click here for a satellite close-up of a typical portion of Homewood.

That's amazing, Drover. Those vacant lots all used to be homes equally as close together. It's even more depressing when you realize that many of the homes still standing are also vacant--just not yet torn down.

[Hopes]

It's pretty pathetic when taxes aren't paid on an 11k property:

Allegheny County Assessment

That alone is very telling.

[razzy]

This is really pretty down on Tioga Street...

Allegheny County Assessment

[Hopes]

There are some well kept houses in the area. It's still a community. There are good people who are stuck in Homewood. They don't have the money to move. It's a very impoverished area. Another thing, Pittsburghers often stay in their neighborhoods. It's not uncommon for many generations to live within the same few blocks. I'm sure there are many good Homewood residents who stay because they want to take back their neighborhood from the drugs, prostitution and gangs. The other reality is that staying where you know people is important for having a support network---especially for impoverished people. They can't move to government housing in another area of town because they wont' have grandparents or friends to watch their children. It's really sad.

[Hopes]

Hey, you deleted the property that you said looked well kept!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by razzy

This is really pretty down on Tioga Street...

Allegheny County Assessment

It's astonishing someone paid 11 grand for that... thing... "Full Market Value: $600"

I love the annual tax bill: $2.81 At some point you'd figure the city (or Jordan Tax Service) would just write it off as costing more to administer the collection of the tax than you'll get from actually collecting it.