Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority unveils affordable housing preservation program
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has unveiled preliminary plans for an affordable housing preservation program.
“The program is going to help fund the acquisition, rehab and operations of existing affordable housing,” said Evan Miller, the URA’s director of housing.
The goal, he said, is to ensure affordable housing options aren’t shut down or converted to market-rate units.
Government-subsidized affordable housing units are only required to remain affordable for a set period of time, but the program could help provide funds to extend that affordability.
The idea is to keep existing affordable housing units from converting to market-rate units at a time when the city is experiencing what many have called an affordable housing crisis.
Pittsburgh has provided $8.9 million of its $335 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation for the program.
The proposed guidelines would require that eligible participants would need to have at least five units, and at least half of them must be affordable to families making no more than 80% of the area median income.
That means housing would need to cost not more than 30% of a household income for people making from $53,100 for one person to $75,850 for a family of four or just over $100,000 for a family of eight, Miller said.
Priority will be given to project serving people who make no more than 50% of the area median income, he said.
“The program, to the greatest extent possible, will require participating projects to accept housing choice voucher holders,” Miller said, adding that the program will be open for nonprofit and for-profit entities.
Participants will have to keep the housing affordable for at least 40 years under the proposed guidelines.
The proposal would allow the URA to give up to $50,000 per unit, with a maximum of $1.5 million per project.
Miller estimated there’s about $70 million to $100 million in need for such a program throughout the city.
The draft guidelines will be available for public comment through Feb. 3.
Final guidelines will be presented to the URA board in February for approval.
Julia Felton is a TribLive reporter covering Pittsburgh City Hall and other news in and around Pittsburgh. A La Roche University graduate, she joined the Trib in 2020. She can be reached at jfelton@triblive.com.
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