Commission director reports caseload shift toward employment complaints, outlines law‑school partnerships and new guidance work

Director Rachel Shepherd gave the commission an operational briefing on Feb. 2, reporting current caseload figures and several new collaborations intended to expand capacity.

She told commissioners the office currently has 74 open investigations, 41 pending intakes, 14 cases awaiting response or assignment, three pending mandatory reconciliations and four cases in court (a decrease of one). Shepherd said three cases are on the public‑hearing track and eight compliance‑review determinations were expected that afternoon.

The director said employment matters account for roughly 75% of cases the office handles and that housing complaints have fallen from prior years. She attributed that decline in part to slower intake and processing at HUD and possible dismissals at that agency, which have reduced the number of transfers the commission used to receive from HUD. ‘‘People may not realize we exist and are going directly to HUD,’’ Shepherd said, adding that the office has seen more local protected‑class claims that the commission, not federal agencies, is equipped to handle.

Shepherd described a work‑sharing agreement that permits intake‑only openings; the office is contracted for 12 such intakes annually and had already reached that quota in January. ‘‘We are going to be asking for an upward modification of that,’’ she said, noting intake‑only work helps residents who otherwise face long EEOC or HUD waits.

To expand capacity, the office has forged relationships with Duquesne and University of Pittsburgh law schools to offer externships, pro bono projects and shadowing for students. Shepherd said staff attorney Rita will supervise externs and that the program aims to start in the summer semester. The office also updated training and provided a Google Drive toolkit of templates for pro bono mediators to use in settlement work.

Shepherd said staff were invited to a Restore training from Violence Prevention Network USA to help identify potential violent‑extremism indicators during public engagement, and that the commission contributed local data to the city’s employee orientation curriculum. On that point she referenced a liability citation discussed in orientation as ‘‘6 5 9 7’’ but said she did not know whether that specific item had been added to orientation materials.

Shepherd warned that the Pittsburgh office of the Pennsylvania commission currently carries over 1,200 open cases; taking intake‑only matters, she said, helps offset upstream agency burdens and keep complaints moving.

On fair housing policy, Shepherd said HUD has rescinded prior guidance on service and support animals. In response, local fair housing advocates and the commission are working to develop state‑level guidance for consistent municipal application and are considering a continuing legal education course on the subject. "Now that we don't have that HUD guidance, we're working on how do we, in the state of Pennsylvania, come together to put something together," she said.

Shepherd closed by listing near‑term outreach events: the Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit on Feb. 21 at CCAC Alameda and the Human Rights City Alliance housing justice summit on March 28 at the Frick Fine Arts building in Oakland. The commission also plans to continue pro bono mediator recruitment and to post an intern position (the office has $5,000 budgeted) if the hiring freeze permits.

The meeting adjourned after routine business.