As Pitt\u2019s student population has grown in recent years, long-term Oakland residents and businesses have experienced the effects of that growth.<\/p>\n
Pitt\u2019s Oakland campus received<\/a> more than 72,000 first-year applications for fall 2026, with the number of applications growing by 149% from 2016. In 2025, Pitt\u2019s enrollment increased by 4.5% with 1,300 more students than the previous year. The Plan for Pitt 2028<\/a> aims to have 22,000<\/a> students enrolled by 2028.<\/p>\n Andrea Boykowycz, executive director of Oakland Planning and Development Corporation<\/a>, said that from a planning perspective, changes in student population have not been drastic over the last five years but contributed to ongoing problems affecting long-term residents.<\/p>\n According to Boykowycz, when students rent houses in Oakland, the result is that more students will live together in one house than if it were occupied by a single family. Boykowycz said these houses are not meant to house large groups of people, particularly when it comes to parking<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can really tell when the students are in session and when they\u2019re not based on how much street parking there is pretty much anywhere in Oakland, because as soon as the students arrive, then the streets are over-parked,\u201d Boykowycz said.<\/p>\n When prices in the housing market increase<\/a>, Boykowycz said more students live together to afford housing, making it less affordable for single families.<\/p>\n \u201cThat has had the effect over time here of meaning that Oakland is full of housing that is incredibly expensive and also not terribly desirable,\u201d Boykowycz said.<\/p>\n Boykowycz said there\u2019s a \u201cweird kind of gentrification,\u201d making housing for working-class families unaffordable.<\/p>\n \u201c[They] are units that are then placed outside of the reach of working families, and that means then if you work in Oakland at a job that doesn\u2019t pay you terribly much, it\u2019s really hard to find housing here,\u201d Boykowycz said.<\/p>\n As Pitt\u2019s student population increases, more beds will be needed for students, Boykowycz said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be intelligent investment by private properties [and] private developers in Oakland to deliver more different kinds of rental housing,\u201d Boykowycz said.<\/p>\n Boykowycz said the problem with housing in Oakland lies in the cost<\/a> of newly constructed apartments.<\/p>\n \u201cSo as a consequence, a lot of these buildings are built without a lot of attention to design and not a lot of attention to longevity, and the kind of unit that they offer is expensive,\u201d Boykowycz said. \u201cBecause the product that you\u2019re providing isn\u2019t necessarily affordable to the overwhelming majority of the market.\u201d<\/p>\n Boykowycz said developers need to get creative about developing new forms of housing that are profitable while also being more affordable for students.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the price per unit drops to where the students can afford it, no one can afford to build that,\u201d Boykowycz said. \u201cIn Oakland, [we need] things that can be built more economically and strategically to meet the needs that students have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Todd Reidbord, president of Pittsburgh real-estate development and property management company Walnut Capital<\/a>, said he\u2019s excited about increased enrollment at Pitt.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we saw this, we at Walnut Capital wanted to obviously take advantage of this opportunity,\u201d Reidbord said.<\/p>\n Walnut Capital owns University Commons<\/a>, \u201can undergraduate student housing hub,\u201d with properties near Pitt, Carlow and Carnegie Mellon. According to Reidbord, University Commons currently includes properties on McKee Place and Dawson Street, with more projects in the works.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been acquiring property on McKee Place for many years and really believed it was the time to really start a development process that permitted us to build significant student housing opportunities,\u201d Reidbord said.<\/p>\n One major project, the Caroline<\/a>, is expected to open in 2027, with others soon following, Reidbord said. The Caroline will house 480 beds, with units that will house two to three people each.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, we have the opportunity with the remainder of the block to do two additional buildings, so we have another approximately a thousand beds that we can add in the future,\u201d Reidbord said.<\/p>\n Reidbord said Oakland needs to adapt to the present times as Pitt continues to expand.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to have density, and we need to have the opportunity \u2014 opportunity to build high-quality housing so that students have a place to live safely and conveniently,\u201d Reidbord said.<\/p>\n Pitt students are integral to many businesses around Oakland, according to business owners. Nila Messenger, manager at Pamela\u2019s Diner<\/a> in Oakland, said students represent a large majority of Pamela\u2019s customers, even before they enroll.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it begins when kids are looking for the college they want to attend,\u201d Messenger said. \u201cThey\u2019ll come in and have some breakfast, and usually it translates into moving weekend, and then when the parents are here [to visit], and the kids come in and out constantly throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Messenger, there is a noticeable difference in business when students are gone for summer break.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the kids come back, it\u2019s definitely 100% busier,\u201d Messenger said. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s a little early to tell for this year, but we definitely have been busier.\u201d<\/p>\n