City Controller Michael Lamb blamed the city’s increased realty transfer tax for sluggish revenue numbers in the first half of 2018 Tuesday.

“It was an unnecessary increase that has been counterproductive to affordable housing,” Lamb said at a press conference. “We’re fighting to keep families in this city and the tax is an added hurdle in the way of enticing new people into town.”

In response to growing concern from residents about displacement should Amazon make Pittsburgh its second home, Councilman Corey O’Connor (District 5) proposed legislation Tuesday placing deed restrictions on between 15 and 20 properties in Hazelwood.

With the former steel mill site of Hazelwood Green seen as a likely Amazon Headquarters location, O’Connor said the properties would be left to lower income residents to help keep them in the neighborhood.

Pittsburgh City Council held a public hearing on a long talked about policy that requires landlords to register their property Wednesday.

Despite passing in 2015, the ordinance has not yet been enacted because of a legal challenge from a group of local landlords.

Nearly a year to the day Pittsburgh City Council first authorized an affordable housing trust fund, it has finally been funded.

In a mid-day vote, City Council approved a staggered raise of the realty transfer tax, a one time fee paid by home buyers, by a 7-2 vote.

A coalition of Pittsburgh City Council members may have found a way to partially fill its Affordable Housing Opportunity Trust Fund, provide funding for early childhood education in the city, and offset a proposed hike in the real estate transfer tax with a package of budget amendments.