PITTSBURGH — Housing is arguably one of the most heated topics throughout the City of Pittsburgh, and with a shortage of roughly 8,000 affordable housing units at the lowest income level, two proposals have been drafted to address the issue.
One proposal would require developers within the city to make a portion of their new housing developments affordable, while the other proposal wouldn’t require a developer to include affordable housing allowing them to opt in for incentives.
“Production is actually increasing counter to what some of the critics of the policy have said,” said Chris Rosselot, the Director of Policy for the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group.
Local housing and transit advocacy groups tell Channel 11 they support Mayor Ed Gainey’s inclusionary zoning proposal that would require any developer building a unit with 20 or more apartments to make at least 10 % percent of those affordable.
The mayor’s proposal would offer incentives like building taller and larger lot sizes.
“I think it is important that we are ensuring that there is a minimum standard of affordable housing in some of our highest amenity communities, places where we know there are more jobs more access to healthcare more access to food,” said Laura Chu Wiens, the Executive Director for Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
The groups said collectively they have been researching inclusionary zoning for over 10 years and have monitored the city’s pilot program on inclusionary zoning since 2019. They told us despite the onsite of the pandemic 119 affordable units have been secured in Lawrenceville, Oakland Polish Hill & Bloomfield.
But council member, Bob Charland, opposes that plan and recently introduced legislation that would instead allow developers to opt in or out of affordable housing.
Like the mayor’s plan, he would offer incentives for developers opting in. He told Channel 11 that along with height and lot size, he would also ensure a faster permitting process and mandate taxpayers pay for the affordable unit, not the developers.
He said requiring developers to include affordable units has made some choose not to develop in Pittsburgh.
“If they get [the mayor] 10 percent of the units they want, but they build zero units they will have created zero units of availability. My proposal will get more projects built,” Charland said.
Advocates said no developers have walked away due to inclusionary zoning and argue Charland’s proposal is anti-housing.
“These same developers and wealthy landlords are funding some of these city council members’ campaigns, and then have the ear of these council members to advance a policy agenda that doesn’t serve our communities,” Weins said.
Charland denied that.
“To say that I am motivated in that way is gross. We aren’t writing a blank check to developers, but if you come here and you play by our rules we want you to invest here,” Charland countered.
The mayor provided us with a statement:
“A home is not a luxury; it should be a right afforded to every resident in our city. The inclusionary housing bill that Councilman Charland introduced would hinder our efforts to make housing more affordable in the City of Pittsburgh. Councilman Charland’s proposal amounts to writing a blank check of City tax dollars to corporate developers, paying them to build units that over half of our residents cannot afford. This proposed bill is not reflective of the future that we envision for Pittsburgh, one where every resident is afforded an opportunity to thrive but instead will continue to prioritize corporate interests over working families.
Our affordable housing zoning amendment package, is a pro-housing and pro-tenant solution that will remove outdated, unnecessary, and restrictive regulations that limit the creation of new housing in our city, while also requiring that developers include units that working families can afford in their projects. We’re already seeing this work in Lawrenceville, Oakland, and elsewhere. We also have a decade of experience that tells us what happens when new housing is built without these protections: hundreds of residents are pushed out of the city, and thousands of Pittsburghers get stuck paying more than they can afford. We have to act now before more of our neighbors are pushed out of our communities.
My administration will continue to fight for our proposed zoning amendments, which will make development work for every resident of our neighborhoods. We’ve seen what can happen when we prioritize the interests of a privileged few over the wellbeing of the many. Most importantly, we will continue to fight to ensure that our city emerges from this housing crisis, backing our rhetoric with real action that moves Pittsburgh to be a city for all.” ~Mayor Ed Gainey
The planning commission will vote on both proposals on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.
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