Locate Renewal Alternative Housing

Renewal Alternative Housing Overview

Renewal, Inc. is one of the two active alternative housing programs named in Allegheny County Jail materials. The county's Alternative Housing page describes these placements as court-approved housing outside the jail after assessment. Renewal is not a booking facility where the public can search a new arrest by roster. It is a community-corrections and treatment setting for assessed residents who remain tied to the Allegheny County Jail and court process.

Renewal's role is different from the Second Avenue jail. Allegheny County Jail handles intake, custody routing, booking date questions, pod questions, release questions, and transfers through its main phone and related court channels. Renewal handles residents who have already been assessed and approved for alternative housing. County materials state that alternative housing can include drug, alcohol, medical, and mental-health assessment, treatment matched to need, life-skills training, employment placement, individualized case management, family reunification, parenting classes, community service, and post-release housing.

Renewal's own history page says the organization opened a 25-bed Homestead facility in 1988 under a contract with Allegheny County to help reduce jail overcrowding, then expanded its community-corrections work with county, state, and federal partners. In the current Allegheny County facility map, Renewal is best described as work-release and alternative housing for county jail residents, not a state DOC prison and not a separate county jail roster.

Renewal Capacity and Admissions

Allegheny County's Alternative Housing page lists Renewal capacity as 150 males and 30 females. The 2025 Annual Warden Report counted 658 Renewal admissions as part of 768 total alternative-housing admissions for the year. Those figures place Renewal in the county's jail population-management system. They do not mean Renewal has a public intake list or a web roster like a jail booking page. They show that court-approved alternative housing is a measurable part of the Allegheny County jail system.

The population served by Renewal is specific: assessed Allegheny County Jail residents placed outside ACJ through jail and court processes. Some residents may be in work-release or reentry programming, while others may be in treatment or structured case-management programming. The key public distinction is that Renewal's residents are still linked to the county jail and court process, but the lookup route shifts from a jail pod inquiry to program contact plus court-record review.

Renewal Resident Lookup

A Renewal lookup should not be handled as a state prison search or a federal detainee search. Allegheny County research found no official public ACJ web roster, and Renewal residents are not listed through a separate Renewal jail roster in the materials reviewed. The county FAQ tells callers that if a person has been transferred to alternative housing, Renewal can be contacted at 412-697-1616 or 412-697-1615. If the placement is uncertain, first call Allegheny County Jail at 412-350-2000 for the current custody or transfer path.

1. Call Allegheny County Jail at 412-350-2000 when the person's current custody location is uncertain.
2. If the county indicates a Renewal transfer, call Renewal at 412-697-1616 or 412-697-1615.
3. Use the person's full legal name and date of birth. A DOC number helps when available.
4. Search Pennsylvania UJS Case Search for charges, bail entries, court events, and docket status.
5. Use the Pennsylvania DOC locator only if the person was sentenced to state custody, not merely placed at Renewal.

Renewal placement can affect what a caller needs to ask. A custody-status question may start with ACJ, a resident-program question goes to Renewal, and a charge or hearing question goes to UJS or the Department of Court Records. Pennsylvania VINE may also be used for custody or case notifications, but it should not be treated as the sole proof of a Renewal placement.

Renewal Address and Contact

Renewal's public address in the research is 704 Second Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, with county FAQ contact numbers 412-697-1616 and 412-697-1615. The Allegheny County DHS/OBH where-to-call booklet also lists Renewal Treatment at 704 Second Avenue and phone 412-697-0110. Because Renewal operates multiple services and the facility-map note flags the need to confirm the exact resident program building before publication, callers should verify the resident's location before sending mail, visiting, or traveling.

Do not go to Renewal expecting county court files or a public jail roster. Criminal case files are handled through the Department of Court Records and UJS. Current custody uncertainty starts with ACJ. Resident program rules, visit guidance, and mail instructions should be confirmed with Renewal.

Renewal Visits and Rules

Allegheny County research did not fully extract Renewal's resident visitation schedule, mail rules, or money rules from Renewal pages. The county FAQ says visitation guidelines can be found on the Renewal website and gives the Renewal phone numbers for transferred residents. Because Renewal is alternative housing, not a jail pod inside ACJ, the ACJ housing-unit visitation schedule should not be copied onto Renewal residents unless Renewal confirms it. Visitors should ask Renewal directly about eligibility, visit type, approved contact lists, identification, dress, scheduling, and cancellation rules.

ACJ visitation rules still matter if the person remains at the jail or is returned there. For a person at Renewal, direct program confirmation is safer because alternative housing can involve work schedules, treatment schedules, court conditions, and resident-specific restrictions. A visitor should also verify whether the resident is still at Renewal on the day of travel because county jail residents may be moved, released, returned to ACJ, or sent to another custody track by court order.

Renewal Mail and Money

The research did not provide a Renewal-specific mail format, commissary vendor, phone vendor, or deposit fee schedule. For that reason, mail and money should be confirmed with Renewal before anything is sent. ACJ mail rules use the incarcerated individual's name, DOC number, and the jail address, but those rules should not be applied automatically to Renewal residents. Renewal may have separate resident procedures based on program housing, treatment rules, work-release status, and approved-contact requirements.

If the person is still housed at ACJ rather than Renewal, ACJ's funds page controls deposits and requires the depositor to be on the approved visitor list as of November 1, 2024. If the person has moved to state custody, DOC rules apply instead. This is why the first step is confirming location before using any money, mail, phone, or visit process.

Renewal Placement Process

Renewal is not a street-arrest booking site. A local arrest normally starts with police custody, ACJ intake or arraignment processing, identification, property handling, medical or behavioral screening, first court action, and classification. Alternative housing comes later when the courts and jail process approve outside placement. Allegheny County says alternative housing residents are assessed for drug, alcohol, medical, and mental-health issues, then placed in treatment or programming matched to their needs.

The same county alternative-housing framework lists life-skills training, employment placement, individualized case management, family reunification, parenting classes, community service, and post-release housing. Renewal's history and public description fit that model. For records purposes, a Renewal resident may still have court dates, bond entries, sentence conditions, warrants, detainers, or release conditions listed through UJS or court files, even when day-to-day housing is outside ACJ.

Alternative housing

Court and jail approved placement outside the main jail, with rules and programming.

Work release

A structured custody setting that may allow employment activity under program rules.

DOC locator

The Pennsylvania state-prison lookup, used for state-sentenced inmates and parolees, not Renewal residents.

About Renewal Programs

Renewal is part of Allegheny County's local response to jail population management and reentry. The county's 2025 Warden Report counted 658 Renewal admissions, and the research notes a 2024 figure of 649 Renewal admissions. That steady use shows Renewal is not an incidental referral point. It is one of the named alternative housing facilities in the county detention map, alongside Passages to Recovery. Both programs are tied to the jail and court process but operate outside the main jail building.

Renewal's Pittsburgh community-corrections role also helps explain why a simple jail roster search may fail. A resident could appear in court dockets, be known to ACJ as a transfer or alternative housing placement, and still be governed by Renewal's own resident rules for visits and contact. A family member looking for the person should use the correct sequence: ACJ for custody routing, Renewal for resident placement and program contact, UJS for court status, and DOC only after state sentencing.