DEVELOP PGH
How does Section 8 homeownership assistance factor into Pittsburgh’s shortage of affordable housing?
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Pittsburgh’s housing authority offers homebuying assistance. Affordable housing advocates want more.
DEVELOP PGH
Mapping Pittsburgh-area transit from streetcars and grandiose plans to the buses and trains we see today
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Like most older American cities, Pittsburgh was built by the electric streetcar. In the first half of the 20th century, mass transit in most American cities was a profitable business — one that was seamlessly intertwined with real estate development and electricity generation.
DEVELOP PGH
As home prices rise, neighborhoods turn to community land trusts to preserve affordability
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Affordable housing needs shape the model in different neighborhoods. But first community organizations need to figure out what these needs are.
affordable housing
Bed bugs at Glen Hazel senior community stir new resident frustrations
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There were bed bugs at the Glen Hazel subsidized housing facility, but the two organizations responsible for ongoing renovations gave conflicting accounts on if the infestation halted construction. Some residents reached out to PublicSource about the issue, and they were on the same page. “The contractors aren’t allowed to work in the mess, but we’re allowed to live in the mess,” said Ralphina Coleman, a resident of the Bernice Crawley high-rise in Glen Hazel, a small neighborhood south of Hazelwood. The bed bugs are the latest in a list of frustrations this year that residents felt at the high-rise for seniors and people with disabilities. Michelle Sandidge, chief community affairs officer for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh [HACP], said no construction stopped at the building.
DEVELOP PGH
Looking for affordable property? Buyers see mixed success at Allegheny County sheriff’s sales.
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Foreclosed properties go to the highest bidder. But individual buyers aren't guaranteed an affordable deal.
DEVELOP PGH
Lawrenceville inclusionary zoning pilot heads to Peduto’s desk after unanimous council approval
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Pittsburgh City Council voted 8-0 to approve an inclusionary zoning pilot for Lawrenceville on Wednesday. Mayor Bill Peduto is expected to sign the affordable housing legislation into law by the end of next week, spokesman Tim McNulty said.
DEVELOP PGH
Watch: When it comes to community redevelopment, what’s in a name?
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The East Shore campaign rolled out last summer as part of an economic redevelopment strategy to transform the region and attract new opportunities. But, for some, it sparked questions and concerns about why a new name is needed and if the name change was only the beginning of plans that could eventually lead to current residents searching for new homes.
DEVELOP PGH
The legacy of Hill House: From settlement house to real estate player to nonprofit in dire straits
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The organization, dubbed ‘the heart of the Hill,’ faced major funding challenges for more than a decade. Some efforts to adapt backfired.
MONEY & POLITICS
UPMC Mercy expansion: How the ‘community benefits agreement’ between UPMC and the city came to be
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Last spring, Louis Berry III was feeling mildly optimistic. As a labor activist and retired housekeeper with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center [UPMC], he felt for the first time in April 2018 that he and activists might be able to get some concessions from his former employer. In Berry’s mind, he said, the not-for-profit hospital chain and healthcare provider is a behemoth that pays some of its employees too little and causes others to go into medical debt. Last spring, Berry thought he had reason to be hopeful: UPMC needed city approval to build a state-of-the-art hospital in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood. Some activists weren’t opposed to the new facility but when the city’s Planning Commission made a recommendation that UPMC work on establishing a community benefits agreement [CBA] with the city, Berry and others saw it as an opportunity to demand and negotiate concessions.
DEVELOP PGH
Disparities between Pittsburgh neighborhoods persist. This project tries to understand why.
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About 14% of poor white people in Pittsburgh lived in high-poverty neighborhoods (those with 30% poverty or more), but a staggering 59% of poor black people did, according to an analysis I completed using data from 2017 American Community Survey estimates. These trends are alarming.
