PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/tag/housing/)
Richard Morris, housing director of The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, said the program is an opportunity for seniors in particular “to get some extra cash.”
The Urban Redevelopment Authority board voted Thursday to disburse $1 million in loans from the Housing Opportunity Fund for two rehabilitation projects. The action comes a year after Pittsburgh City Council voted to allocate $10 million for the fund and one day after council began reversing a plan to steeply cut city funding for the authority.
As housing prices and rents rise in the Pittsburgh region, some residents face an additional hurdle — they're often denied housing they can afford.
It was one of the coldest February days when the furnace in Doren Dansby’s building broke. Soon after, the electricity in her Mount Oliver apartment started going offline for daylong spells. The landlord, who spoke little English, couldn’t tell Dansby when either would be fixed. She knew she and her 9-year-old son had to get out. “I kept calling 211,” Dansby, 28, recalls.
"I’m an H.B. A Human Being. I’m not no race. I’m not black. I’m not blue. I’m not orange. I’m not white. I’m a human being. That’s all."
The following graphic represents the 17,241 affordable housing units Pittsburgh needs to provide for all households earning 50 percent of the city's median household income or less. For the full story on Pittsburgh's affordable housing shortage, read our explainer: What you need to know about affordable housing (or lack thereof) in Pittsburgh
Source: Pittsburgh Housing Needs Assessment, Mullin & Lonergan Associates
The Penn Plaza development has been a symbol of a trend, where units well within the price range of low-income Pittsburgh residents are being squeezed out of the market and replaced by new, swanky places aimed at high-earners.
