Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at a press conference on the City-County Building portico announcing zoning proposed zoning changes. (Photo by Eric Jankiewicz/PublicSource)
From “granny flats” to inclusionary zoning, the mayor’s flotilla of proposed code amendments would need the approval of a so-far divided City Council.
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Pittsburgh’s zoning laws are being targeted for a major overhaul by Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration as part of an attempt to halt the exodus of low- and moderate-income Black residents from the city.
In response to a 2022 housing needs assessment study, Gainey and a lineup of city officials Thursday proposed:
- Expanding the geographical spread of rules that require affordable housing as part of new development
- Removing minimum parking requirements for new developments
- Creating multi-family development near public transportation hubs
- Allowing accessory dwelling units [ADUs] on residential, community center or religious institution property.
ADUs are commonly referred to as backyard cottages, granny flats or in-law suites, and have gained popularity across the country in places like Boston, Chicago and West Coast cities.
“I just want to say that this is what happens when you never give up the fight. I want to say that a lot of times we have talked about being able to create a city for all and change things, and a lot of times people didn’t believe it,” Gainey said at a press conference on the City-County Building portico.
“We are in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, a crisis that has been coming for decades, and we cannot kick the can down the road for the next generation to deal with,” the mayor continued. “That’s what got us here in the first place. My administration believes that it is best to address all of our challenges head on, and we’ve done that as an administration.”
The administration looks to expand citywide inclusionary zoning, a mechanism in place in some neighborhoods that forces developers to set aside 10% of total units for households making no more than 50% of the area median income. The rule would apply to projects including 20 or more dwelling units, exempting dormitories. Inclusionary zoning is currently in place in Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Polish Hill and the majority of Oakland, but is also the subject of a lawsuit filed by The Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh.
“It’s time that we modernize our zoning code to better reflect our changing city. These reforms will remove barriers,” said Jamil Bey, who was recently hired as director of the City Planning Department. “Ultimately, we’re working towards a city that meets the housing needs of all its residents.”
Another proposal brought forward on Thursday would remove the minimum lot area needed to develop a residential unit. Gainey’s administration characterized lot size rules as “a barrier that prevents housing projects from reaching the maximum number of units otherwise allowed by the zoning code,” thus preventing development of more housing, which would lower costs.
To become law, the proposals will have to win the approval of City Council and go through reviews by other governing bodies.
While council members Barb Warwick and Deb Gross participated in Thursday’s announcement, Councilor Bob Charland pushed back in a prepared statement. “Celebrating proposed legislation as though it were already law, before it has been introduced or much less reviewed by council, is a well-known tactic used to pressure council members into a vote,” Charland wrote.
“Though this approach is not new to this administration, it remains deeply disheartening,” Charland continued. “From what little I have gathered, some aspects of the proposal might benefit my district, while others will be significantly regressive for the city overall.” He urged “scrutiny from the community and co-governance partners.”
Charland said he’s “committed to giving all the elements of this hodgepodge proposal the meticulous evaluation it deserves.”
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, an advocacy group for the deregulation of housing construction, said in a statement that inclusionary zoning fails if it doesn’t have public funding. The group claimed that the city’s special zoning has created few units in five years while making potential buildings “no longer economically viable.”
The statement concludes that the proposed zoning package “increases the cost of construction for new buildings, forcing renters to shoulder the burden of our housing crisis with higher rents, and worsening the overall housing shortage by killing new construction.”
Allegheny County Executive Innamorato — who has pledged to increase affordable housing throughout the county — said in a prepared statement that Thursday’s introduction to the zoning efforts is a “key first step.”
“I’m excited to see the City of Pittsburgh introduce this suite of zoning code updates,” she continued, adding that the new administration has “heard from residents all over the county who wanted to see more housing options near transit and tools for updating and modernizing zoning to support affordable housing development.”
David Breingan, executive director of Lawrenceville United and a co-chair of the Housing Justice Table, said his ZIP code has the second-highest housing appreciation in the country over the last decade.
“Across Pittsburgh, housing is increasingly unaffordable to more and more residents,” he said. “Nearly half of all renters in Pittsburgh are cost burdened. Well over one out of four renters in the city of Pittsburgh pay more than half of their income on housing. This disproportionately affects our Black neighbors, exacerbating existing disparities, deepening our city segregation, and driving a loss of 10,000 black residents between 2010 and 2020.”
Breingan said that when residents are priced out of their neighborhoods, they risk losing their homes, schools, family physicians and social groups. “We have a severe housing crisis in Pittsburgh, and we need a bold, comprehensive, all-hands-on-deck strategy that meets the scale of this challenge.”
The proposed zoning amendments are available for public comment through Nov. 5. Feedback can be sent through EngagePGH, or in person at a series of Development Activities Meetings that will be held throughout September and October.
Once the public comment period has closed, the proposed changes will be presented to the City Planning Commission for hearing and recommendation before presenting to council in early 2025.
Editor’s note: Comments received after initial publication have been added to this story.
Eric Jankiewicz is PublicSource’s economic development reporter, and can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ericjankiewicz.
This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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