For three years, Hi View tenants had dealt with steadily rising health code violations — from failing heating and leaky ceilings to roaches and rodents — and made increasing numbers of 911 calls as security declined and hazards mounted.

For two months, the reporters, joined by photographer Ryan Loew, chronicled residents' plight while digging through nearly 1,000 documents and analyzing data on Hi View and its sister property, Midtown Plaza. Along the way, they found that the obscurely named LLCs that owned Hi View and Midtown had been purchased, in May 2018, by PNC Bank.

The nation's seventh-largest bank, headquartered in Pittsburgh, has a unit that specializes in buying affordable housing, securing government subsidies to renovate and enabling low-income residents to remain. In McKeesport, though, the bid for subsidies fell short, and the properties degraded, leaving residents frustrated and, until recently, largely ignored.

Click below to read their story, and tune in to WESA 90.5 FM to hear the residents tell it.

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