Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nathaniel Cornelious Jr. lost all three of his sisters and his apartment in Carnegie.

For months, he drifted between couches, spent time at his brother’s house and slept on the streets Downtown.

On March 13, his 65th birthday, Mr. Cornelious met with his pastor, who brought him to the Second Avenue Shelter Commons. There, he met Brenton Weinert, housing solutions specialist for the Allegheny County DHS.

Two weeks later, Mr. Weinert showed Mr. Cornelious an apartment in Penn Hills. Mr. Cornelious moved in and for the first time in years, has a place to call his own.

He’s one of hundreds of people who found housing through the 500 in 500 program, an Allegheny County initiative led by County Executive Sara Innamorato to place 500 people into aff

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