{"id":293753,"date":"2026-09-25T14:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T14:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/293753\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T14:18:12","slug":"what-are-pittsburghs-priorities-for-housing-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/293753\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Pittsburgh’s priorities for housing policy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is WESA Politics, a weekly newsletter by our political reporters providing analysis about Pittsburgh and state politics. If you want it earlier \u2014 we’ll deliver it to your inbox on Thursday afternoon \u2014\u00a0sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the fourth-floor Gold Room of the Allegheny County Courthouse, a handful of local elected officials, housing advocates, developers, and other experts gathered last week for what is ordinarily a policy-heavy affair: an informational meeting hosted by a state House Committee.<\/p>\n

The topic of the meeting was housing supply, and there was broad agreement from speakers that the region and state need more of it. Many attendees cited Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s housing plan, which projects Pennsylvania will need 450,000 new housing units by 2035; at current rates, the state will fall short of that goal by nearly 185,000 homes.<\/p>\n

But two different visions about housing policy were on display.<\/p>\n

On the one hand: An official from Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor\u2019s office, Matt Singer, highlighted O\u2019Connor\u2019s efforts to make it easier and faster to build housing in the city by overhauling permitting and other systems.<\/p>\n

On the other: Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato emphasized the region\u2019s loss of affordable apartments, the burdens faced by low-income renters, and the hurdles confronting first-time homebuyers as prices rise.<\/p>\n

Singer talked about wanting to accelerate growth, and making building easier by getting the government out of the way in the areas of permitting and zoning. He used such words as \u201caccelerate,\u201d \u201creform,\u201d \u201cfast track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh, he said, is at an inflection point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can remain a place where it’s difficult to build new housing, repair and maintain existing housing, and convert new sites to higher and better uses, or we can become somewhere that has laser-focus on growth and a place that works for everyone by welcoming everyone,\u201d Singer said.<\/p>\n

But Innamorato\u2019s testimony leaned more on highlighting how the market alone isn\u2019t serving renters and would-be home-buyers in the lowest income brackets \u2014 or even those whose incomes are closer to the average.<\/p>\n

She highlighted that from 2019 to 2024, the county lost more than 44,000 apartments that rented for less than $1,000 a month. During the same time, it gained nearly 13,000 apartments that rent for more than $2,000 per month, she said. (This was while the population of both low-income and high-income households remained roughly the same.)<\/p>\n

The price of everything has gone up since 2019, of course, and housing advocates are awaiting the completion of a study that looks at what has driven these trends. But for now, the concern is that the new units being built in the region are, so far at least, not producing more affordable homes for those on the bottom of the ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also, like many other regions, have a housing preservation problem that must be addressed,\u201d Innamorato told the assembled legislators. \u201cWe can build all we want, but if we continue to lose units we will still wind up in a negative situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, the difference in emphasis encapsulated the housing debates that have been playing out in Pittsburgh for years. For instance, former Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey faced pushback from developers and pro-housing advocates for his advocacy of city-wide inclusionary zoning, a mandate that larger housing developments include a certain portion of affordable apartments.<\/p>\n

Those differences shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise to anyone who\u2019s been paying close attention to how our elected officials have talked about housing.<\/p>\n

Innamorato has initiated policies that help homeless people get into housing, and help low-to-moderate-income first-time homebuyers. At both the state and county level, she\u2019s also focused on helping homeowners maintain their properties.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, meanwhile, has made no secret of the fact that he wants to remove zoning barriers, speeding things up for developers to help the city and its tax base grow.<\/p>\n

(On Wednesday, in fact, he held a news conference to spotlight a series of reforms. Among the updates he spotlighted: a one-business-day EZ Permit fast lane for simple projects, a video-call inspection option for select kinds of permit, and a revamped setup for pre-application meetings.)<\/p>\n

So, are these visions in conflict: less government versus more government? Policies that prioritize letting developers move quickly, or policies that act to ensure low-income households don’t get left behind?<\/p>\n

Or are they more in alignment than they first appear: a potentially synergistic combination of removing the permitting and zoning barriers that hold back housing production, combined with targeted government subsidies for the households that need them most?<\/p>\n

While there were certainly different points of emphasis in O\u2019Connor and Innamorato\u2019s approach, those might just reflect the differing scopes of city and county government. The county has no zoning power \u2014 that is left to municipal officials. But it does have a major role in providing social services such as housing assistance and eviction prevention.<\/p>\n

Neither of the region\u2019s top two local elected officials has been critical of the other\u2019s approach. And the Mayor\u2019s office said O\u2019Connor and Innamorato are aligned on land use, infrastructure, economic development, and housing production.<\/p>\n

At least one housing expert who addressed state legislators last week seemed to be advocating for an all-of-the-above strategy.<\/p>\n

Lena Andrews, CEO of ACTION Housing, the region\u2019s largest nonprofit housing developer, spoke extensively about how subsidies for housing are needed \u2014 but so is zoning reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a crisis we can solve with subsidy alone,\u201d she told the House panel. \u201cWe also need to build more housing of more types in more places and make it easier and faster to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

For too long, she said, antiquated zoning codes have made it \u201cdifficult or illegal to build anything other than detached single-family homes, often on large lots. That is often not the housing [Pennsylvania] residents need or can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrews suggested state legislators consider a mix of zoning reforms, along with infrastructure investments, more predictable permitting, and help for smaller municipalities, as well as engaging large employers to help create more housing their workers can afford.<\/p>\n

None of these recommendations alone will fix our housing problems, she said. But together, they could be \u201ca real and achievable path toward building the homes our region needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia Maruca contributed to this story. Lena Andrews is a member of the board of directors of Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting, parent company of WESA. Board members do not review or influence editorial content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is WESA Politics, a weekly newsletter by our political reporters providing analysis about Pittsburgh and state politics.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-293753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}