URA authorizes $51 million for Hill, North Side affordable homes

People walk along Bedford Avenue near the Bedford Hill Apartments in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. City officials are looking to expand Pittsburgh’s affordable housing stock with an affordable housing trust fund. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Developer Bob Mistick was all smiles during last week’s Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh board meeting, and will be for some time.
At its Oct. 12 meeting the board not only authorized $15 million in tax-free bond funding for his firm to renovate 75 affordable housing units that Mistick owns in partnership with the Northside Coalition for Fair Housing, it also approved another $36 million for property improvements to Crawford Square. Mistick will be the contractor for that work, too.
“It’s kind of unusual because just this morning I was yelling at Shirley on the phone about getting some things done on the North Side,” said Mistick. “And now here we all are, one big family.”
Shirley Rucker, Northside Coalition’s board president, said she has fun working with Mistick.
“I just want to thank everybody,” she said. “And tell you Bob has already done some great work on some of the houses—I wouldn’t mind moving into one of them.”
The 75 units on the North Side, scattered in 43 buildings in the California-Kirkbride and Central Northside neighborhoods, represents just the first phase of property rehabilitation for a total of 324 units, which will take place over the next eight years.
Because the units date to between 1870 and 1910, URA Housing Director Bob Cummings said historic tax credits will account for some of the project funding.

About Post Author

Comments

From the Web

Skip to content