This week both the City of Pittsburgh and the state took steps to invest in affordable housing. At the state level that meant five Pittsburgh low-income housing developments were awarded tax credits. On the city’s part, the Urban Redevelopment Authority approved several Housing Opportunity Fund’s initiatives for implementation around the city on Thursday.

Over the past few years, as Pittsburgh has become a more attractive location for redevelopment, in neighborhoods like East Liberty and Lawrenceville older and less affluent residents have found themselves unable to afford the places they’d long called home. 

Since 2017 the City of Pittsburgh has had an unorthodox method of deciding the fate of a portion of future budgets. From 25 of the city’s best and brightest high school students, Pittsburgh City Council hears a recommendation on portion of the budget should best be spent. This year, after a rigorous application process and a crash course in local government the students requested that council allocate $125,000 of the 2020 capital budget towards a community land trust.

Pittsburgh City Council approved the city’s first capital budget post-Act 47 status Tuesday, but not without hearing considerable criticism beforehand.

At the culmination of a month long effort,  two dozen affordable housing advocates testified before council that only restoring a portion of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s financial support from the city wasn’t enough to combat displacement within the city.

With signs that alleged empty promises, affordable housing advocates advanced on Pittsburgh City Council chambers to plead with council to restore their funding for the 2019 capital budget.

When Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto proposed his budget for the new year, many advocates were disturbed to learn that their financial support from the city would decrease by $5 million, leaving the authority with $1.1 million from the capital budget.

Philadelphia’s City Council recently passed four major bills in addition to the anticipated Fair Work Week legislation. These measures give more rights to tenants, attempt to resolve trespassing ordinances on occupancy disputes, and raised the minimum wage for city workers and contractors.

Most of these bills were introduced in June or during the fall session. With council meeting once more in the 2018 calendar, passage becomes increasingly important as next year brings elections.