We invite you to explore this page to understand how Allegheny County is using settlement funds to address the opioid epidemic.

 

In 2021 and 2022, states and localities reached historic settlements with manufacturers and distributors of opioids, as well as pharmacy chains and a consulting firm, for their roles in the opioid epidemic. As a result of these settlements, Allegheny County will receive annual payments in varying amounts, every December, through at least 2038.

Two major objectives guide Allegheny County’s use of opioid settlement funds:

• reducing fatal overdoses
• reducing the harms from opioid use disorder

The flexible nature of the settlement funds compared to other funding streams strengthens Allegheny County’s ability to:

• provide stability for effective existing programs, especially when other funding is uncertain or inadequate
• expand effective services and build capacity—such as covering upfront operational costs—that Medicaid or other healthcare funding does not cover
• support emerging strategies and fund innovative solutions aimed at addressing the opioid epidemic

Dashboard and Reports

The dashboard and reports—housed on this page—track the use of settlement funds and document the outcomes of the investments.

1. 1. 2024 Opioid Settlement Fund Report (Published 2025): describes the County’s strategy to address the opioid epidemic and the programmatic investments made with opioid settlement dollars in 2024.
   2. Opioid Settlement Community Listening Sessions Findings: reports the results and findings from community listening sessions held in 2024. Community priorities for opioid settlement spending included: expanding treatment access, reducing harm and stigma, improving housing stability and investing in family strengthening supports and services.
   3. Opioid Settlement Dashboard (2022-Present): displays an interactive dashboard that tracks Allegheny County’s spending of opioid settlement funds across different programs and priorities.

Previous:

1. 1. 2023 Opioid Settlement Fund Report (Published 2024): details how Allegheny County used it’s first installment of opioid settlement funds.

Key Takeaways

1. Decrease in fatal overdoses: There was a 35% decline in fatal overdoses from January to August 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 (301 compared to 466).
2. Decline in wastewater levels for norfentanyl and xylazine:
   1. The concentration of norfentanyl (a proxy for fentanyl) in wastewater dropped by more than 60% from March 2024 through the end of December 2024.
   2. The concentration of xylazine (a drug often used in veterinary medicine as a sedative) in wastewater levels had a sharp decline over the course of 2024, falling over 80%.
3. Expansion of treatment in jail: The total count of individuals receiving any medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in the jail more than doubled from 2023-2024—from 889 to 1,800.
4. Growth of mobile and telehealth treatment access:
   1. Mobile units operated by Prevention Point Pittsburgh (PPP) served 600 patients in high need communities at no cost.
   2. Telemedicine services offered by the UPMC Bridge Clinic—a fast turnaround MOUD prescribing service—had over 2,000 encounters in 2024, and most patients accessed medication within two hours of their telehealth visit.
5. Support for community-led solutions: In 2024, Allegheny County dedicated nearly $1 million in settlement funds to support initiatives led, designed or operated by highly impacted communities.
6. Investments in harm reduction strategies: In 2024, syringe services reached 700 new visitors and 3,000 returning visitors. The service program collected approximately 40 cubic feet of medical waste each month by collecting used supplies (e.g., needles, syringes) from visitors—supporting safe handling and disposal of medical waste in the community.
7. Direction from the community: 2024 settlement investments reflected community input from the listening sessions—demonstrating Allegheny County’s commitment in shared decision-making.

How the County Uses this Information

Allegheny County uses the dashboard and reports to ensure it uses opioid settlement funds responsibly, equitably and effectively. Specifically, the County uses this information to:

1. Monitor trends and outcomes in overdoses, treatment access and disparities across populations.
2. Fill service gaps by directing funds to under-funded effective programs and by financing programs prioritized or endorsed by the community.
3. Invest in evidence-based supports and services that support the improvement of current programs, the piloting of new initiatives and the design of innovative solutions.
4. Drive continuous improvement efforts that strengthen partnerships and improve coordination across Allegheny County.
5. Share insights and lessons learned with other communities and jurisdictions looking to pursue similar efforts.
6. Strengthen public trust through advancing transparency in use of funds.

What’s Next

For 2025-2026, Allegheny County plans to use opioid settlement funds to:

1. Expand access to low-barrier, high-quality, evidence-based MOUD and recovery support services.
2. Continue to support treatment in the Allegheny County Jail, including continuity of care post-release.
3. Increase services in highly impacted communities—improving mobile units for MOUD distribution and wound care, strengthening harm reduction services and enhancing targeted interventions for people at highest risk.
4. Upgrade supportive housing by investing in recovery housing and permanent supportive housing for people with opioid use disorder.

Allegheny County has also issued a funding opportunity called the Open Solicitation for Programs that Prevent or Treat Opioid Addiction Under the Guidelines of the Opioid Settlement Fund. Through this Request for Proposals (RFP), Allegheny County seeks additional ideas from the community on how to improve outcomes for groups disproportionately or hardest impacted by the opioid epidemic, particularly the Black community, people who are currently or recently incarcerated, individuals experiencing homelessness, people who inject drugs, and people with chronic pain or disabilities.

 

Questions or Feedback?

We welcome your questions and suggestions. To share feedback, you can reach us at DHSResearch@alleghenycounty.us. If you’d like to stay informed, consider signing up for our newsletter. To learn how to use DHS data in your research, please visit our Requesting Data page. Thank you for your time and interest. Your engagement helps shape and improve how we share data that matters.

For many individuals, the intersection of substance use and incarceration reflects not a single bad decision, but the weight of systemic challenges, trauma, and unmet health needs. When the full range of treatments for opioid addiction are not available in correctional facilities, it can interrupt recovery and break the connection to care that individuals had available in the community.

Through partnerships between the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), and community-based providers, the County offers medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) to individuals in custody. MOUD is widely recognized as the gold standard for treating opioid use disorder (OUD). This collaborative effort strengthens coordination between public health and justice systems and helps ensure continuity of care for people navigating both incarceration and addiction.

We invite you to explore this page to understand why MOUD in jail matters—and how communities can drive continued progress.

Dashboard and Report

The dashboard and report, available on this page, highlight both the scale of the MOUD program at the ACJ and the cross-system collaboration it took to make it work.

1. The Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) Dashboard provides near real-time data on individuals receiving MOUD in the jail — including demographics, treatment timelines, prior access to care, and post-release connections to community-based services.
2. From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Delivering Lifesaving Opioid Use Disorder Treatment to People in the Allegheny County Jail documents the County’s path to MOUD implementation— detailing operational hurdles, public engagement and the crucial role of opioid settlement funds (OSF). This report also highlights the perspectives and lived experiences of county staff, providers and jail officials.

Key Takeaways From 2024

1. Program reach: Nearly 1,800 individuals received MOUD during their time in the ACJ—about as many people as the jail holds on any given day.
2. Timeliness of care: 46% of individuals began MOUD within two days of entering the jail and 83% started within the first week.
3. Reentry support: Over half of individuals leaving the jail connected with a community-based provider within three days.
4. Decline in overdose fatalities: 17% of all fatal overdoses in Allegheny County involved individuals who left jail within the previous 12 months—a decrease from 19% between 2016 and 2020. Of those 2024 deaths, only 29% occurred within 90 days of release, compared to about 50% during earlier years. The timing of this decline aligns with expanded MOUD access and increased reentry support, suggesting that timely treatment may be helping to prevent overdose deaths.

How DHS Uses This Information

DHS uses the dashboard and report to monitor outcomes and drive system improvement. Specifically, DHS uses this information to:

1. Track program implementation and spot disparities in access, timing, and outcomes
2. Make decisions that improve coordination between the jail and community providers
3. Use public funding—such as opioid settlement funds—responsibly and equitably to support what works
4. Share insights and lessons learned with other communities and jurisdictions looking to pursue similar efforts

What’s Next

DHS will continue to use real-time data to strengthen reentry coordination, invest in peer support, monitor disparities across the system and guide ongoing improvements in care. Insights discussed inform decisions that make human services responsive, effective and equitable.

While Allegheny County remains one of the few jurisdictions in the country offering jail-based MOUD, it doesn’t have to stand alone. Opioid settlement funds are flexible and available nationwide, giving other communities the opportunity to build similar programs that support health, recovery, and continuity of care for people impacted by addiction and incarceration.

County staff, community providers and Jail leadership have worked together to show that even complex systems can deliver timely, effective treatment; their efforts lay the groundwork for broader change — turning short-term resources into long-term impact, demonstrating how local innovation can inform national progress, and building a foundation others can strengthen and carry forward.

 

Questions or Feedback?

We welcome your questions and suggestions. To share feedback, you can reach us at DHSResearch@alleghenycounty.us.
If you’d like to stay informed, consider signing up for our newsletter. To learn how to use DHS data in your research, please visit our Requesting Data page. Thank you for your time and interest. Your engagement helps shape and improve how we share data that matters.

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) partnered with Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) to launch a new transportation assistance program in November 2022 called the Discounted Fares Pilot. This program offered free and reduced-price PRT rides for county residents ages 18 to 64 who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, along with their 6- to 17-year-old children. The fare discounts were allocated using a lottery. Each household in the pilot was randomly assigned to one of three groups, each with equal probability. One group received unlimited free PRT trips, a second group received a 50% discount on all PRT trips, and a third group received no discount. The fare discounts lasted 16 to 19 months for the free-fare and half-fare groups.

Key Takeaways

1. The Pilot began with strong enrollment—over 14,000 people. A total of 9,544 adults and 4,928 children enrolled in the Pilot during the three-month open enrollment period. The majority of adult participants were female (72%) and Black (59%). Participants reported taking an average of ten PRT trips per week and spending an average of nearly $30 on public transportation per week at the time they enrolled in the Pilot.
2. Free fares increased public transit ridership. On average, participants in the free-fare group took 1.48 more trips per week—a 43% increase—compared to those who paid regular price for their trips. In contrast, transit usage among participants who received half-priced fares was not statistically different from those who paid regular price for their trips.
3. Fare discounts eased financial hardships. Near the end of the discount period—around 15 months into the pilot program—recipients of free fares reported spending $17.09 less per week on public transit compared to participants who paid full price for their transit usage. Participants paying half-priced fares reported spending $5.64 less per week on public transportation than participants who paid full price for each ride.
4. Among participants who began the study without a job, free fares led to meaningful gains in employment and income. Over the first year and a half of the program, unemployed individuals who received free transit were 6% more likely to secure paid work than those who paid full price. Free-fare recipients also earned nearly $2,850 more—a 28% increase in earnings—compared to participants who covered their own transit costs. These findings suggest free public transit can increase financial stability and employment opportunities for low-income residents in Allegheny County.
5. The short duration of the fare discounts may have limited their impact on other social and educational outcomes. The study found small and statistically insignificant impacts on healthcare utilization and criminal justice involvement (including appearances in court). Fare discounts had no detectable impact on school attendance among children who attend Pittsburgh Public Schools.

How DHS Uses This Information

DHS has used the results from this pilot to inform the design and implementation of a longer-term program called AlleghenyGo, which offers a 50% PRT discount for working-age county SNAP beneficiaries and their children. Click here to learn more about AlleghenyGo.

Past Reports and Resources

1. Evaluation of First Year of Pilot Program – Interim Results (May 2024)
2. Research and Evaluation Plan for Pilot Program (2022)

Questions or Feedback?

We welcome your questions and suggestions. To share feedback, you can reach us at DHSResearch@alleghenycounty.us. If you’d like to stay informed, consider signing up for our newsletter. To learn how to use DHS data in your research, please visit our Requesting Data page. Thank you for your time and interest. Your engagement helps shape and improve how we share data that matters.

Statement from Allegheny County DHS: Improving outcomes for people with serious mental illness 

July 15, 2025

“A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization,” released this week, showcases the unique data and analytic capacity of Allegheny County Department of Human Services and presents the first causal evidence around psychiatric hospitalizations produced anywhere in the country.   

The research raises critical and difficult questions about how best to support individuals living with serious mental illness (SMI), particularly during times of crisis. The findings underscore what we have long recognized: that the current system does not always produce the outcomes we intend, and that we must invest in new models of care.  

Allegheny County DHS is committed to improving outcomes and reducing adverse events—such as overdose, suicide, and justice involvement—among individuals with SMI. 

Our efforts to improve outcomes for people include: 

• We launched the Alternative Response program, an initiative in which behavioral health first responders can now answer human service and behavioral health 9-1-1 calls instead of law enforcement in 11 municipalities and two police departments, with the hopes that individuals can get safely to community based behavioral health care, instead of hospital where appropriate.  

• We are deploying crisis response teams in key geographic areas, including downtown Pittsburgh, to meet people where they are in crisis and work together with a multidisciplinary team to engage frequently with them and offer low-barrier connection to care for complex needs. 

• We will introduce a new street-based treatment program to engage, stabilize, and treat individuals with SMI who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness. This model will use targeted, persistent engagement to build trust and therapeutic relationships to support long-term recovery. 

• We recently launched the Mobile Competency Restoration and Support Team (MCRST), allowing individuals with SMI involved in the criminal justice system to begin competency restoration in the community—reducing long jail stays while waiting for placement in a state hospital. 

• We are launching a peer-led, short-term respite overnight program that operates 24 hours/day in a home-like environment. It will be staffed by certified peer specialists, who will provide non-clinical crisis support based on specialized training and their own personal recovery experience. 

• Earlier this month, DHS assumed responsibility for managing access to key community-based mental health services that are critical for promoting stability. Using consistent tools and criteria, we will proactively identify individuals in need, facilitate timely connections to care, and help clients step down to lower levels of support while ensuring access to additional human services where appropriate. 

• We will expand the supply of supportive housing for people with SMI and co-occurring SMI and substance use disorders. We aim to add 300 supportive housing beds this year, and we recently issued a solicitation to increase our Long-Term Structured Residences (LTSR) bed supply. 

• We are expanding core behavioral health services, including mobile medication teams that assist with medication education and adherence, and integrated dual-diagnosis teams for individuals with both SMI and substance use disorders. 

• We will test the use of financial incentives to support adherence to long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications, where clinically recommended – which can increase medication adherence and reduce adverse outcomes such as inpatient hospitalization and involuntary commitment.   

• We are working with inpatient providers to reexamine physician training related to evaluating involuntary commitment petitions. Physicians with more training and experience are often more circumspect in their choice to hospitalize, and facilitating knowledge sharing across disciplines may improve results. At the same time, we are exploring data-informed tools to improve decision-making.  

• We are exploring the implementation of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) in Allegheny County as one component of a broader, community-centered behavioral health system. Many clients deteriorate in community until friends, family, law enforcement, or providers become so concerned about their and others’ welfare that they file a petition. These clients often struggle to connect with behavioral health services. We are exploring AOT as a tool to engage with people sooner and help them remain stable in community as well as be a diversion from involuntary inpatient hospitalization.  

 

It is important to underscore: every day, people are working across the behavioral health system to help people find safety, support and recovery – and in many cases, people are indeed getting help they need. At the same time, we recognize that we must always strive to do better, particularly to help people who are still struggling despite what our current system has to offer. We are committed to learning from data — being transparent about what the research tells us and using it to accelerate our improvement efforts – and listening to those most affected and their families to guide solutions that will lead to greater safety, stability, and recovery. 

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) actively monitors the size, location and conditions of tent encampments in areas frequented by people without housing (e.g., Downtown Pittsburgh and the riverfront trails).

What data is available?

The encampment survey dashboard covers encampment data for three areas – the North Side trail, South Side trail, and areas in Downtown Pittsburgh with visible homelessness. Surveyors document information in an online survey tool, including the location of the encampment, the number of tents/structures and whether any immediate action is needed. The data helps DHS track changes in encampment conditions, size, and location over time. The dashboard displays encampment counts from May 2023 to the present, and its data updates weekly.

This data does not attempt to calculate the number of people using tent encampments.  A tent or makeshift structure may house one or more people. It may also be vacant, shared, borrowed or used for storage. This dashboard’s scope is confined to specific locations with visible homelessness around Pittsburgh. It does not include data on other encampments that may be hidden from public view but still known to DHS or other outreach providers.

How does DHS use the dashboard data?

This information is reported weekly to DHS, the City of Pittsburgh, and homeless outreach and partner organizations, to ensure that they have the best information available for decision-making and to provide a timely response to any issues that may impact the safety of people using and/or sleeping in these public spaces. In addition to using these data to drive real-time action, trends in the data help quantify community needs, including emergency shelter demand and crisis response planning. This data – crossed with other data sources about the number of people experiencing homelessness – provides measurable outcomes to understand the extent to which investments in housing and supportive services impact visible homelessness.
 
DHS is aware that the presence of tent encampments can generate strong feelings in the public – from concern for health and safety to discomfort or fear. However, homelessness is often a negative outcome of economic hardship, systemic inequities and trauma – outcomes many people experience. Therefore, DHS encourages dashboard viewers to interpret the data with care. Interpretations made from this data should remain mindful of peoples’ lived experience.  
 
This dashboard has the opportunity to influence public policy, inform public safety, enhance outreach responses and support broad efforts to improve the lives of individuals in the community. If you are interested in learning more about housing instability and homelessness, we invite you to review additional related dashboards and reports on homelessness and shelters.

Click here to view the Encampment Survey Dashboard.

Questions or Feedback?

We welcome your questions and suggestions. To share feedback, you can reach us at DHSResearch@alleghenycounty.us. If you’d like to stay informed, consider signing up for our newsletter. To learn how to use DHS data in your research, please visit our Requesting Data page. Thank you for your time and interest. Your engagement helps shape and improve how we share data that matters.

 

The Intimate Partner Violence Reform Initiative was created in May 2022 to coordinate policy and system-level work across agencies in Allegheny County to improve a complex and fragmented system for both survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) and those who use violence.

Stakeholders from local and federal criminal justice systems, victim service organizations, community groups, healthcare and human services are working to improve the ways in which people can access help, how our systems work together and share information, and how we can prevent the most serious harm. This includes innovations in adapting and implementing intimate partner violence focused deterrence strategies in Allegheny County.

Each year, Allegheny County participates in a national census, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), of the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night. The Point-in-Time count enumerates people experiencing homelessness in the County who are sheltered (residing in emergency shelters), unsheltered (residing in places not meant for human habitation) or participating in a short-term, supportive housing program (transitional and safe haven).

What happened in 2025?

Allegheny County’s 2025 count was conducted on January 28, 2025. The number of people counted as unsheltered increased by 66%, from 169 in 2024 to 281 in 2025. These increases did not align with DHS’s real-time data collection (from street outreach and weekly monitoring of tents), which indicated stable or even downward trends in unsheltered homelessness.   

Unable to explain these contradictory results, we began a review of the methodology used for the Point-in-Time count. Our review found that the process for the January count did not have clear documentation and that some practices did not align with HUD recommendations, making interpretation of the results challenging. We decided to repeat the count, with a clearly documented methodology based more closely on HUD guidance, on March 18, 2025. The March 2025 count showed a 44% increase in unsheltered homelessness since January 2024 (from 169 to 244 people).   

We consulted with representatives from street outreach teams and members of the Homeless Advisory Board (HAB) to discuss results and for assistance in interpreting patterns in the data. The 2025 Point-in-Time report describes the methodologies and results of both the January and March counts. Also included are preliminary interpretations of the results and next steps. Refer to the dashboard to explore Point-in-Time data trends over time.

Key Takeaways in 2025?

1. We’ve seen increases in shelter usage among both adults and individuals in families with children. More adults and individuals in families with children were staying in shelter during both 2025 Point-in-Time counts than in the 2024 count. In January 2025, 570 adults and 354 individuals in families with children were in shelter. In March 2025, 550 adults and 336 individuals in families with children were in shelter. Compared to 2024, these counts represent relatively small increases, ranging from 3-7% for adults and 4-9% for individuals in adult-child households.
2. We have greatly expanded outreach, which likely resulted in a more comprehensive count. The City of Pittsburgh and the County have invested in outreach workers in recent years to help deal with rising homelessness. These workers are the main enumerators in annual Point-in-Time counts. The increased capacity for and geographic scope of outreach workers has likely resulted in identifying more people experiencing homelessness over the years. For example, increases in people counted in the East End may be at least partially explained by increases in street outreach capacity.
3. There are high rates of turnover in the unsheltered population. Only 19% of individuals counted were counted in both the January and March counts. For those counted in only one, almost two-thirds were not enrolled with street outreach programs using HMIS.
4. Using “people working with street outreach” as a proxy for a count of unsheltered individuals results in an incomplete picture. The 2025 Point-in-Time counts illustrated that the proxy we used for estimating people experiencing unsheltered homelessness—working with street outreach—misses people experiencing short or intermittent episodes of unsheltered homelessness.
5. The Point-in-Time count of unsheltered people has increased, but changes in approach make interpretation of the results challenging. Identifying increases or decreases in unsheltered homelessness year-over-year is problematic given changing methodologies over time. This means that we cannot confidently attribute these changes to real changes in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness versus changes in how we are counting people.

How is the County moving forward?

DHS is partnering with Bloomberg Associates, experts in Point-in-Time count methodologies, to facilitate a diverse workgroup of stakeholders to evaluate the methodology we have employed, to compare that current methodology to best practices in other jurisdictions, to provide recommendations for improving our methods, and to create a refined methodology that they will help us implement in January 2026. Bloomberg Associates will also externally validate our fidelity to the new methodology.

We expect that the methodology employed in the January 2026 count will differ from what we have used in the past. It may include the use of a larger and more diverse set of volunteers, a more explicit way to choose the locations to canvass throughout the County and/or a more intentional plan to survey people on the night of the count. Because of anticipated improvements, the newly designed methodology will serve as our baseline going forward. We will make the new methodology available publicly.

Previous Reports in this series

• 2024 Point-in-time Brief
• 2023 Point-in-time Brief
• 2022 Point-in-time Brief
• 2020 Point-in-time Brief
• 2019 Point-in-time Brief
• 2018 Point-in-time Brief
• 2017 Point-in-time Brief
• 2016 Point-in-time Brief
• 2015 Point-in-time Brief
• 2010-2014 Point-in-time Brief

What are these reports about?

DHS’s Strategic Initiatives are bold, transformative efforts designed to improve the effectiveness of human services for everyone. These reports describe innovative strategies aimed at supporting the people of Allegheny County and detail featured accomplishments that have strengthened essential systems in the County.  

2025 Strategic Initiatives

Strategic initiatives featured in the 2025 report include expanding caregiver support, improving access to key programs for individuals with serious mental illness and developing crisis support for families involved in the child welfare system. View the 2025 Strategic Initiatives report here.

2024 Accomplishments

During 2024, DHS and its partners made significant progress toward achieving several goals by focusing on annual Strategic Initiatives. The 2024 Accomplishments report features several accomplishments, including the launch of Allegheny Go, an increase in the number of people transitioning from shelter to permanent housing, reduced wait times for Allegheny Link, improved access to support for seniors and fewer law enforcement encounters.

Previous Reports:

• 2024 Goals and Key Initiatives
• 2023 Goals and Key Initiatives
• 2019-2020 Strategic Initiatives

 

In May 2022, Allegheny County assembled a taskforce of leaders to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) through improved coordination, information sharing, training, and implementation of interventions that target both those who use violence and those who are victims or survivors of it.

Historically, the County’s understanding of IPV has been based on national data, which, though useful, fails to capture local nuances that lend greater insight into specific community needs. The county published a report and dashboard to provide more local context to problems of IPV in Allegheny County by describing trends in demographics, human services involvement, and criminal histories among victims and perpetrators of intimate partner homicides (IPH). The report covers January 2017 through September 2022. The dashboard includes more recent information and is updated annually.

The analysis point to a disproportionate impact on individuals who are disadvantaged not only by their gender identity, but also by systemic racial and socioeconomic inequalities. Though IPV has traditionally been framed as an issue related to gender alone, a more intersectional understanding of risk and impact can better inform strategies for effective prevention and mitigation.

Key Findings from Report

• There were 45 victims (43 incidents) of IPV and IPV-spillover homicides from January 2017 through September 2022.
• The demographic trends among individuals involved in IPH are similar to those of overall homicides: victims and perpetrators are disproportionately Black, young (aged 25-34) and living in high-need areas. Black women represent the highest proportion of victims (37%, n=16), while Black men constitute the highest proportion of perpetrators (56%, n=23).
• Unlike homicides at large, IPH victimization disproportionately impacts women: 63% of victims of IPH are women.  While IPH accounted for roughly 7% of all homicides from January 2017 through September 2022, they made up 30% of all homicides with female victims.
• Both victims and perpetrators of IPH had high rates of involvement in human services.  74% of perpetrators had prior involvement with child welfare, publicly funded behavioral health, or homeless and housing systems.
• 58% of victims had prior involvement with child welfare, publicly funded behavioral health, or homeless and housing systems.
• Across all gender, race and role categories, about 53% of individuals involved in IPH – 47 of 88 – had criminal justice involvement at some point prior to the homicide incident: 63% of perpetrators (27 of 43) and 44% of victims (20 of 45). Among perpetrators with criminal justice involvement, both Black and White men had higher rates of involvement than either Black or White women.
• Roughly 24% of all IPV perpetrators had indicators of IPV history in either the criminal courts or child protection system. This is likely an undercount of true IPV history, as data limitations, legal restrictions and underreporting make identification of non-fatal IPV in the data difficult. Among those with domestic violence related criminal cases, the majority occurred in the 18 months prior to the homicide incident.

Read more about the county’s IPV work here.

 

 

Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) developed these publicly available, interactive dashboards in collaboration with resolve Crisis Services, the County’s provider for the 24-hour, 365-day mental health crisis service provided free to all Allegheny County residents.

These dashboards provide information about:

Crisis Calls: Overview of call volume to resolve Crisis Services through 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and resolve’s 24-hour hotline 1-888-7-YOU-CAN (796-8226), consumer wait time to reach call clinician, abandoned call rate, and demographics of person-in-crisis who received call services. Aggregate call information is from April 2021 to present and is updated monthly. Demographic information is available from March 2023 to present and is updated monthly.

Mobile Team Dispatches: Overview of mobile team dispatch volume, consumer wait time, reasons for mobile team dispatch, dispatch rate by neighborhood, and demographics of people-in-crisis who received mobile interventions. Information is available from September 2023 to present. Data updated monthly.

Police Involvement: Percentages of calls and mobile team dispatches with police involvements. Information is available from September 2023 to present. Data updated monthly.

Allegheny County residents face significant challenges in accessing behavioral health services, an issue highlighted by recent studies and surveys. Notably, a Countywide survey revealed that 42.7% of respondents believe improving access to mental health care, particularly for young people, should be a priority. This finding is supported by research from the University of Pittsburgh, which documented long wait times for appointments and challenges in connecting with providers. These issues stem from a critical shortage of behavioral health professionals and are compounded by time-consuming provider search processes.

In response, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), along with Community Care Behavioral Health (CCBH), the County’s behavioral health managed care organization, are pursuing a series of investments and initiatives aimed at addressing these barriers and increasing service availability.

To improve access and reduce wait times, DHS and CCBH are focusing on:

• Creating visibility into appointment availability so clients and providers spend less time searching for services.
• Supporting the behavioral health workforce through loan repayment and cohort-based training programs to increase the number of providers.
• Investing in community-based mental health supports to offer additional options outside the traditional system.
• Expanding access to proven treatments like medication-assisted therapy for opioid addiction, cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy.
• Augmenting clinical decision-making to ensure those who need help most get it quickly

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) funds programs to assist young adults who are transitioning out of the child welfare system (also known as transition-aged youth) to secure employment, education, housing, behavioral health services, financial advice and more. Despite these service offerings, transition-aged youth have higher rates of homelessness, substance use, mental health challenges and incarceration, as well as lower rates of high school graduation compared with people who were not involved with the child welfare system. While targeted services are important, some human service needs result from poverty, which can be mitigated by providing direct financial assistance.

What is this report about?

In the summer of 2023, DHS launched a direct cash support program called Cash Assistance for Allegheny Young Adults (CAAYA), which provided a one-time payment of $4,000 to young adults, ages 18 through 22, with a history in the child welfare system, who were experiencing homelessness or were young parents who had an open case with Allegheny County’s child welfare office. In this report, we present a mixed-methods approach to evaluating the impact of CAAYA, including longitudinal surveying, a quasi-experimental analysis of administrative data in the Allegheny County Data Warehouse, and semi-structured interviews with cash recipients.

What are the takeaways?

• CAAYA recipients demonstrated significant financial need. At the launch of the program, only 35% reported being currently employed and only 29% reported being in school either full-time or part-time. Those who had some form of formal employment in the 12 months before the program had mean annual earnings of $10,174. Twenty-eight percent had one or more children.
• CAAYA recipients also lacked financial support within their community. Two-thirds of recipients reported not knowing anyone who would lend them $500 in a time of crisis.
• Overall, the program encouraged about 100 individuals to open a bank account. Seventy-five percent (n = 774) of recipients chose to receive the money via bank account transfer and 25% via a virtual gift card.
• Recipients used the cash assistance quickly. On average, $2,769 of the $4,000 was spent within the first month.
• Car-related expenses ranked as the number one item for planned expenditures, and there was a 41% relative increase in car ownership three months after receiving the money.
• The program improved self-reported well-being after receiving financial assistance, but the effects faded in the subsequent months.
• CAAYA recipients increased their use of mental health outpatient therapy by 7% compared to a control group of individuals who were narrowly ineligible for the program. There was no change in utilization of crisis and inpatient services. In contrast to self-reported well-being, the program’s impact on usage of outpatient mental health services persisted for at least eight months after receiving funds.

How is this report being used?

As a result of this program, we are exploring additional opportunities to leverage cash assistance with this population to increase engagement in holistic supports and services. We are also considering longer-term programs with more frequent, smaller payments to targeted populations.  For future programs, we hope to receive state waivers for the impact of cash assistance on public benefits, especially if a program is designed to include ongoing payments.

For other local governments or providers who are considering cash assistance programs, we hope this report serves as a resource for program design and evaluation. Local governments should note that the success of the CAAYA program would not have been possible without our partner organizations. Trust in government significantly impacts the accessibility of services, particularly for marginalized communities. When first hearing about the cash assistance, many individuals who were eligible to receive the money thought that it was a scam. This skepticism was eased by having multiple trusted intermediaries ensure that it was a real program and that they should apply.

The 2008 Act 33 Amendment to the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services law requires state and local reviews of all child fatalities and near fatalities that result from suspected child abuse. In response, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) conducts a comprehensive and multidisciplinary review of child fatalities and near fatalities in cases where there is suspicion of child abuse or neglect. These reviews are a component of DHS’s continuous quality improvement process.

What is this report about?

This report covers child fatalities and near fatalities (critical incidents) in Allegheny County reviewed in 2022 and 2023 with a focus on drug ingestions, which have been a growing cause of these critical incidents. The increase in child ingestions and fatalities has been a nationwide trend in recent years and has worsened amidst the nation’s opioid epidemic. The County seeks to understand how these incidents happen and the circumstances surrounding them so that it can develop strategies to minimize them.

What are the takeaways?

• There were 50 critical incidents that occurred during 2022 and 2023. Forty percent (20) of these incidents were the result of unintentional drug ingestion. Unintentional ingestion comprised one-third of the 2022 incidents, rising to nearly one-half in 2023. The number of ingestion-related incidents has been rising year-over-year since 2019 and has been the primary cause of the County’s fatalities and near fatalities since 2022, surpassing blunt force or penetrating trauma and abusive head trauma.
• In 18 of the 20 ingestion cases, at least one of the substances ingested was an opioid. Eighty-six percent of the near fatal and 100% of the fatal ingestions involved opioids.
• The majority (70%) of ingestions occurred in children below the age of three. 40% of victims of ingestions were between one and two years of age compared to 27% of victims of non-ingestion fatalities and near fatalities. This age group are especially at risk for unintentional ingestion as they begin to gain mobility, which increases the likelihood of coming into contact with substances.
• Only 4 (20%) families of ingestion-related critical incidents had active child welfare involvement at the time of the incident, though three quarters (15) of families had a history of child welfare involvement prior to the ingestion incident.
• Sixty-six percent of alleged perpetrators in ingestion cases had received publicly funded substance use disorder services prior to the critical incident.  However, there was a reduction in engagement with these services within a year (43%) and within a month (36%) prior to the critical incident.
• Of the known alleged perpetrators in ingestion cases, 41% had utilized medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) at some point before the critical incident. There was a steady decrease in MOUD use leading up to the critical incident with 31% using MOUD within the year and 13% within the month prior to the critical incident. 

How is this report being used?

Allegheny County is taking an active role in addressing the ramifications of the opioid epidemic and the rising trend of unintentional ingestions. This includes enhanced training for Child welfare staff and access to naloxone, lockboxes and fentanyl test strips for caseworkers to provide to clients. The County, through its opioid settlement funds, has expanded convenient access to MOUD and evidence-based treatment (e.g., mobile medication, telemedicine prescribing, and incentives for abstinence from stimulants and opioids) and launched a Countywide marketing campaign in April 2024 warning about the dangers of opioid ingestions and the safety of administering naloxone to children. In addition, it has invested in preventative programming like residential substance use disorder treatment that allows families to reside together during a person’s treatment and in the Hello Baby approach, a collaboration which is designed for parents with newborns to improve family outcomes and maximize child and family well-being, safety and security.

Other information

Explore updated annual data and prior reports here.

What is this dashboard about?

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) partnered with Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) to launch a transportation assistance program called Allegheny Go. This program offers half-price PRT rides for county residents ages 12 to 64 who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and do not receive any other transit fare discounts. 

Allegheny Go builds on the success of the Allegheny County Discounted Fares Pilot Program, which ran from November 2022 through June 2024.  

This dashboard describes the application process and reports on application statistics and participant demographics.  

How is this dashboard being used?

DHS has set a goal of enrolling 15,000 participants in Allegheny Go. This dashboard tracks progress towards that goal. Staff monitor how many applications are received, how many are eligible, and make sure eligible participants receive their discounts.  

 

Allegheny County Department of Human Services developed these dashboards to provide information to the community about violence trends in Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh.

What is this dashboard about?

The dashboard contains information about all homicides in the county and city (as reported by the county’s medical examiner) and contains a link to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police’s dashboard showing shootings within the City of Pittsburgh. The dashboard shows trends in homicides, including trends in demographic data for victims and trends in homicide locations. The dashboard also shows information on human service, physical and behavioral health, income supports and justice involvement for the victims prior to their death.

What data is available?

Data on homicides is available through the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office. It is available from 2007-present and is updated monthly. Data on program involvement (including prior justice involvement) comes from Allegheny County’s data warehouse, which integrates information from more than 20 distinct sources. Read more about the county’s data warehouse here.