Pittsburgh officials seek an easier path to home ownership for residents

Legislation advanced by City Council on Monday looks to explore limited-equity housing cooperatives as a way of addressing the affordable housing crisis in Pittsburgh.

Limited-equity housing cooperatives are a kind of collective home ownership, said Councilwoman Deb Gross, who co-sponsored the measure with Council President Theresa Kail-Smith. People invest equity in a house — though a much smaller cash amount than a traditional down payment — which they then own part of, along with others who have also invested in the home.

“They’re really a different form of home ownership that we haven’t used in a very long time, but that Pittsburgh used to be very good at,” Gross said. “The opportunity is that you can buy in gradually, because you’re actually just buying shares a little at a time. So you don’t need a large down payment, but you can still have housing security that ownership provides, and you’re building wealth and equity, a little bit at a time.”

This comes at a time when more than half of Pittsburgh residents are renters, Gross said, and the city is fighting to keep its population. Housing costs are skyrocketing, and evictions are up as people are priced out of rentals.

“We hear a lot of people who feel really left out of home ownership,” Gross said.

The city has tried to offer more affordable housing options, including for-sale affordable housing in the inclusionary zoning overlay, but this could be another piece of the puzzle, she said.

“Like everything else, this isn’t the single thing that fits everybody’s needs,” she said.

The concept used to be popular in the region about 100 years ago, Gross said, and it’s making a resurgence in areas like Boston, New York City, Washington, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Kansas City and Seattle.

In the legislation, Gross and Kail-Smith call for a report from the Department of City Planning and the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections that explores the existing regulations for limited-equity housing cooperatives in the city, how many currently exist in Pittsburgh, the cost of associated permit fees and policy changes that could help make limited-equity housing cooperatives easier to launch in Pittsburgh.

The idea is to learn how the model would work in Pittsburgh today, Gross said, and to explore ways the city could help bring about a resurgence of limited-equity housing cooperatives. The city, she said, could potentially tweak zoning requirements or ease regulatory burdens to make limited-equity housing cooperatives easier to organize in the city, or offer financial assistance.

If the legislation is approved, the report would need to be submitted to City Council by the end of August.

Council unanimously supported the measure in a preliminary vote Monday. Councilmen Bruce Kraus and Corey O’Connor were not present at the meeting.

Council could take a final vote on the measure as early as next week.