The Pitt News
Neighborhood
T he i n de p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | April 5, 2018 | Volume 108 | Issue 142
EDITION
Northview Heights provides refuge in Pittsburgh
Bint Amiri, a Somali native, moved to Northview Heights after living in America for 20 years. Christian Snyder | MULTIMEDIA EDITOR This is Northview Heights — and within its fences is a living conglomeration of culContributing Editor tures and languages. It is also a Pittsburgh Fumbling for their IDs at the entrance, public housing project — one of six in the first-time visitors to Northview Heights are City. Other housing projects are located in often surprised when they see they must presSouthside, Hazelwood, Homewood, the ent identification to get onto the grounds. Northside and the Hill District. Once past the initial guard station, visitors The City of Pittsburgh annexed Northview are met with 200 security cameras turned on Heights, sitting alone atop a hill, in the early the neighborhood. Tall metal gates hold in the 1930s. Because of its geographic isolation, getcommunity on all sides. But it’s clearly not a ting down to the City wasn’t easy, and trucks prison, considering the rows upon rows of had to deliver groceries and other goods up to houses — some with doors wide open, neighthe neighborhood’s residents. bors chatting in front yards, and swaths of And according to Valerie Lauw, Northchildren in T-shirts throwing a football.
Sarah Shearer
Northview Heights resident Valerie Lauw poses for a portrait in her apartment. John Hamilton | MANAGING EDITOR view Heights resident and president of the neighborhood’s tenant council, that hasn’t changed much. “We’re surrounded by a forest,” she said. “You can’t see us unless you have a plane.” Chuck Rohrer, spokesperson for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, agreed. It’s “not close or in walking distance to much,” he said of the neighborhood. The neighborhood, once almost exclusively African-American, has become home to the influx of refugees and immigrants from diverse parts of the world who come to Pittsburgh for its affordable housing options and
access to public transportation. A large portion are from African countries like Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the largest population comes from Somalia. For perspective, Northview Heights had a population of 1,587 in 2017. Of that number, roughly 385 are Somali Bantu — an ethnic minority group forced out during the Somali Civil War in the 1980s and 1990s. Many Bantus living in Northview Heights today came after spending several years in Kenyan refugee camps. See Northview on page 8