Faced with a grim fiscal outlook and a dicey 2026 budget, City Council is taking a hard look at whether it can spare $10 million on affordable housing initiatives next year.

Council members on Wednesday delayed by two weeks a vote on funding the Housing Opportunity Fund’s 2026 budget as they consider cuts.

The fund’s importance is not in question. Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority uses it to support construction and preservation of affordable housing, offer legal support to renters facing eviction and provide rent help to low-income residents.

But the city’s budget realities dictate closer scrutiny, according to Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side.

“As we all said, everything is on the table right now,” Charland said. “And I don’t want to obligate ourselves to this at this point.”

Though Charland called for the pause, he also reiterated that cutting money from the program was not his goal.

“I believe this is one of the most important things we do here. None of us want to be in the situation we’re in,” Charland said.

Pittsburgh is faced with serious financial challenges including declining revenues, a phasing out of federal pandemic relief money and the elimination of a tax on athletes and performers.

Quianna Wasler, the URA’s chief housing officer, said cutting funding would hinder the authority’s ability to bolster the city’s supply of much-needed affordable housing and help low-income people struggling to stay in their homes.

Applications are swamping the housing fund’s programs, more than can be funded with $10 million, Wasler said.

Several council members have raised serious concerns about the 2026 spending plan Mayor Ed Gainey proposed. The budget proposal, critics said, does not properly account for all the city’s expenses. They claim it sets aside too little for overtime pay, investments in a decrepit vehicle fleet and utility bills.

Council members have indicated they don’t plan to rubber-stamp a budget they believe is unrealistic.

So far, they haven’t offered concrete plans for how they might change it. They’ve discussed curbing costs or increasing revenues, but nothing has been formally proposed.

Council President R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill District, said he’d be a “fierce advocate” for ensuring the Housing Opportunity Fund gets its full $10 million allocation this year. However, he supported the two-week hold.

“I understand we do have to take a fine-tooth look at every single thing,” Lavelle said.

Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, raised concerns about reducing money for the housing fund.

“It’s always very easy to prey on the funding that supports our most vulnerable residents who are the least likely to get in touch with us when we cut the funding they desperately need,” she said, explaining she’d rather raise revenues than cut programs that benefit Pittsburghers.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)