City Council resolution declares housing a human right in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution declaring housing a human right in the city.

The Rev. Ricky Burgess, a councilman who has been an advocate for making housing accessible for all residents, introduced the legislation.

The resolution said that “studies have shown that the most important piece of a person getting stabilized from struggles with employment, addiction, mental health issues and physical health is by having stable, long-term housing as a first step.”

The resolution’s adoption comes after city officials last month released a report showing that Pittsburgh’s Black residents and others living in the city’s predominantly Black neighborhoods were less likely to get a mortgage for a home than their white counterparts.

Burgess last month introduced two other pieces of legislation aimed at making affordable housing more easily accessible.

Along with Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, Burgess proposed requiring developers seeking approval from the city to provide affordable housing statements. The statements would address “the types of housing proposed, the targeted market demographics, affordable dwelling units within the development and within the market, and the number of dwelling units proposed to be demolished.”

Cities including Austin and San Diego have similar requirements.

Another proposal would grant council members greater control over developments in their districts by giving them review power over development applications.

Under the proposal, the city’s zoning administrator would share a developer’s application with the council member who represents the area where the developer wants to build. The council member would then have 14 days to report “significant community concern to the planning commission.”

“I’ve been in office 14 years,” Burgess told the Tribune-Review after the legislation was introduced. “Every other thing, every single thing council has attempted to do to solve the affordable housing crisis still leaves us critically short, and we fall behind further every day. The time has come to try something different.”