New Pittsburgh Housing Authority board nominees tour Manchester with Gainey

Jala Rucker loves Pittsburgh’s Manchester neighborhood so much she tells her kids that when she dies, she wants to be buried in her backyard.

She loves her neighbors. She loves that her kids are known in the area. She loves how the tight-knit Manchester community prides itself on keeping its streets clean. And she loves that she used to feel comfortable knocking on any neighbors’ door for help when she was a kid.

“When you build a foundation, your house becomes your home, and your neighbors are important,” Rucker said Friday. “Stability means everything.”

That’s why Rucker feels so passionately about helping her neighbors find affordable housing options that enable them to stay in the communities they call home.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has appointed her to another term on the board of the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, where she serves as vice chair. She also is co-chair of the Pittsburgh Housing Justice Table.

On Friday, Rucker served as a tour guide, leading elected officials and new appointees to the authority’s board for a brief walking tour of Manchester, pointing out different affordable housing options in the community.

She stood outside of an eight-unit building on Sheffield Street that had once been her home. The private landlord who owned the site, she said, neglected it, leaving her living alongside rodents and bed bugs.

Rucker worked with her neighbors to form a tenant council to advocate for better living conditions. Eventually, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh stepped in and re-acquired the property. They’re renovating the building now, Rucker said, pointing out new air conditioning units sitting in the backyard, ready to be installed.

A block away, she pointed out red-brick houses alongside homeowner-occupied homes. No one would know just by looking at them, but they’re affordable housing made available through the housing authority, too.

Pennsylvania Bidwell, an authority apartment building, offers affordable housing catered to seniors and disabled residents. Right across the street, a 12-unit affordable housing complex is being renovated.

Rucker said such affordable housing options are paramount for the community.

But officials worry that President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to the federal government and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could make it harder to maintain existing housing options and build more affordable units.

Gainey said he’s still hoping for collaboration between city, county and federal government officials to protect affordable housing and bring more to the market.

He joined the walking tour of Manchester with his new appointees to the seven-member housing authority board: Wasi Mohamed, who serves as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale; Charlise Smith, who founded WAVE, a Pittsburgh-based housing advocacy organization; and Tammy Thompson, president and CEO of Catapult Greater Pittsburgh, a local advocacy group that aims to help systemically disenfranchised populations.

City Council will need to approve their nominations. Council scheduled a public interview with the nominees next Tuesday.

If approved, the new members would serve on the board through March 2029.

Gainey reiterated his goals of fighting gentrification and building more affordable housing.

He also promised to ensure the city is a welcoming place for immigrants who could boost Pittsburgh’s population.

“We want to see our city expand,” Gainey said.

He declined to say whether he wanted to see new leadership at the authority, though Thompson immediately called for leadership changes. Smith said her priority would be to improve the systems in place at the authority to address persistent concerns people have about yearslong waiting lists for housing.

Mohamed touted his ties to Washington and said local leaders need to make sure Trump and his supporters understand what potential cuts to housing funding and HUD leadership could mean for everyday Americans.

“Our experience so far working with the Trump administration has been they don’t even understand what they’re cutting,” he said. “In certain cases, they’ve reversed their decisions.”

Local leaders, Mohamed said, can use their platforms to ensure Trump officials know that cutting housing initiatives could hurt seniors, people with disabilities and low-income neighbors in communities like Manchester.

“What we need to do is make sure they understand who’s going to be harmed here,” he said.