The unhoused individuals should have a voice
An unhoused resident says housing allocation policy should include the people being ranked by it.
Key Excerpts
[The county] could get [homelessness] end more effectively, if they were able to take in people that had just hit homelessness, instead of they have to go through god knows what and see if they even survive it.
I think [the unhoused individuals] should be allowed to be involved because this is about them. They should be allowed to be heard. Not just the staff, not the county. They get to go home and sleep at night.
It looks like they're trying to [prioritize] people that are causing problems for others in society, as opposed to people that are at risk for themselves [and] are suffering internally.
In February 2026, I spoke about Allegheny County Government's housing allocation algorithm in Pittsburgh because unhoused people should have a voice in how the system works. This is about us. Staff and county officials go home at night, but the people being ranked by the score live with the consequences.
The housing worker may be doing their job, but the design still decides who waits. If the county wants to reduce homelessness, people who have been outside, in shelters, or moving between couches should help define what urgency means. Otherwise the system will keep counting us without listening to us.
Citation: (Kuo et. al, 2023)
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