PITTSBURGH CITY COUNCILMAN R. DANIEL LAVELLE AND MAYOR ED GAINEY ARE AMONG THOSE WHO KNOW HOW BAD THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS IS IN PITTSBURGH. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Up to $42 million to be earmarked for affordable housing over next three years
Pittsburgh, the most “livable” city?
Talk to many African Americans, and they’ll tell you that short of a literal kick in the rear end, it’s very difficult to think they’re wanted within city limits. Not only have residential buildings been bulldozed in favor of retail stores or high “market-rate” housing, but housing prices in general have skyrocketed.
The issue of housing is the primary reason why more than 7,000 African Americans left Pittsburgh’s city limits between 2014 and 2018, according to the U.S. Census.
The good thing is, local officials are aware of the problem. Getting more affordable housing into Pittsburgh has been a priority for Mayor Ed Gainey, and on May 31, he called the day “historic,” a “day that’s been worked on for many years.”
He announced that the city had partnered with the Urban Redevelopment Authority of the City of Pittsburgh to tackle the affordable housing crisis head on, and right now. The city would invest $2.5 million annually for the next 25 years to spur between $25 million and $42 million for affordable housing to be built or acquired, basically as soon as possible. The URA’s board approved a “bond issue” of up to $42 million, and the money from the City of Pittsburgh will help pay back the “bond,” or loan.
Now it’s up to Pittsburgh City Council to approve the legislation from the mayor’s office, and let the affordable housing blitz begin.
“We know this is just the beginning,” Mayor Gainey said, “and it will take time to yield results; however, the need to move with urgency is upon us and we are committed to doing just that to provide affordable housing in our city.”
Habitat For Humanity has estimated that there is a shortage of 15,000 affordable homes in Pittsburgh.
When real estate developers invest in apartments that are classified as “market rate,” they look to the Area Median Income of the city, which, for Pittsburgh, was $58,100 for one person in 2020. For a family of four, the AMI was $83,000. With that in tow, developers are placing rent prices out of the reach of many Pittsburgh African Americans. The website Rent.com estimates the average rent price in Pittsburgh as of June 2023 is $1,502 per month. Economic research firm Moody’s Analytics reports average rent in Cleveland, Ohio, is $1,214, and in Columbus, Ohio, $1,135, both as of 2022.
When developers decide to invest in housing that’s classified as “affordable,” oftentimes certain subsidies and grants are warranted to help offset the costs that developers feel would be lost by the reduction in rent prices.
“Real estate development, in general, has gotten to be increasingly difficult in recent years due to industry-wide trends” such as “rising interest rates, supply chain issues and construction costs increases,” voiced the URA’s chief housing officer, Quianna Wasler.
“These issues are even more difficult to overcome for real estate developers who are trying to build affordable housing. The URA sees this as an opportunity to create innovative solutions to complex housing problems and we have demonstrated a commitment to responding to the current affordable housing market demands.”
When “affordable housing” comes into the mix, one must pull out their calculators. Single people or families can be classified as making a yearly gross salary that’s 30, 50, 60 or 80 percent of the AMI. As an example, for a family of four, 50 percent of the AMI was $41,500 in 2020. Thus, if an apartment or home was renting to families at 50 percent of the AMI, the rent price would have been no more than 30 percent of the family’s gross monthly income. At $41,500, the gross monthly income is $3,458, meaning the rent would be no more than $1,037. The family of four at “market rate” ($83,000 for 100 percent AMI) would pay $2,075 per month if the landlord kept the rent at 30 percent of the family’s gross monthly income. But at “market rate,” the landlord could make the rent even higher.
As more and more African Americans have left, or “were forced” to leave Pittsburgh due to the rising prices, they moved to places like McKees Rocks, Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, out of the county, or even out of the state. According to the U.S. Census, Pittsburgh’s population is 22.9 percent Black (69,363). Compare that with a city such as Akron, Ohio, which, even though it has almost 120,000 less people as a whole, the Black population there is 56,741, only 13,000 less than Pittsburgh.
During the news conference, a representative from Congresswoman Summer Lee’s office said that constituents always bring up the affordable housing issue to them, “saying it’s getting worse. We have people struggling every day, pleading with somebody to just do something about it.”
Pittsburgh Councilmen Rev. Ricky Burgess and R. Daniel Lavelle have always fought for more affordable housing in Pittsburgh. Mayor Gainey saluted Rev. Burgess for his tireless efforts on the issue. Reverend Burgess was not present at the news conference. But Councilman Lavelle was there. “We hear it every single day…that the cost of renovating, rehabbing or building affordable housing has been exasperated, and the cost of providing affordable housing is more expensive than it ever is, so we have to get extremely creative,” Councilman Lavelle said.
Part of that creativity includes the city and URA not showing their hand as to exactly where in the city they’re targeting for the new or acquired affordable housing. Representatives from the URA and the city said that once the funding is secured, then they will begin outlining to the public exactly where the housing will be focused. Speaking too soon on it could jeopardize the pricing of said housing, officials said.
What is known, though, is that neighborhoods like East Liberty and Lawrenceville have been negatively impacted by the lack of affordable housing, but through the efforts of officials like Rev. Burgess, housing is in the process of being built in locations like Larimer Avenue and Meadow Street, in Larimer.
URA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUSHEELA NEMANI-STANGER (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)
The URA’s executive director, Susheela Nemani-Stanger, said at the news conference that “Mayor Gainey’s trust in us is a testament to the transformative work through the URA’s housing department. We believe that these types of efforts combined with the City of Pittsburgh’s important work to revise zoning codes to spur housing development will create a city where everyone can live and thrive.”
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