Pittsburgh says homeowner needs $100,000 to rebuild hillside after landslide
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It's landslide season again.
Heavy rains have been soaking the ground and hillsides are falling. On Monday, city workers posted condemnation signs on a gas station in Spring Garden, a house on West Liberty Avenue and a woman's garage in Bon Air.
Mary Kaye Walsh-Keinke backyard is gone, and the city said her garage and deck are no longer viable. She can stay in her home for now. But in the long term, she'll need to shell out more than $100,000 to rebuild the hillside.
KDKA's Andy Sheehan: You don't have $100,000 lying around?
Walsh-Keinke: I wish I did because this has been such a nightmare. If I had that kind of money, we would not be talking right now because I would have taken care of it myself.
Scores of homeowners throughout the region are in the same boat — homes condemned and under orders to fix their hillsides — but no money is available.
"There is no help for us. There's no help in the city of Pittsburgh. I wish the mayor would find some way to give us homeowners some relief," Walsh-Keinke said.
Cash-strapped governments like the city of Pittsburgh said they're struggling to keep up with slides on government-owned land. And insurance companies don't offer landslide insurance to hillsides property owners.
State Rep. Emily Kinkead has a bill to establish a state fund landslide insurance fund, which homeowners could purchase at low rates. But she can't get it out of committee.
"It is very very frustrating that there is no appetite to move this in the Legislature because there is an absolute need to move it for homeowners all across our region," she said.