A slew of changes to the city’s zoning code meant to grow affordable housing in Pittsburgh are moving through the city’s Planning Commission, with a final briefing on Tuesday.
In September, Mayor Ed Gainey announced a number of proposed changes to the zoning code to address the city’s lack of thousands of housing units for its lowest-income households based on the most recent housing needs assessment. Coupled with low real estate inventory, the city faced mounting pressure to create more housing, both market-rate and affordable.
“These are really a first step,” said Paul Cancilla, principal planner at the Department of City Planning. “It's a very big step, but it's an important step to really amend our zoning code to allow for more housing to be built. Doing so will provide opportunities for residents of all incomes to be able to live in the city of Pittsburgh.”
The new changes include building on smaller lots, allowing for more dense housing near certain transit centers, removing off-street parking requirements, and allowing people to add “granny flats,” such as an apartment over a garage. These proposals give developers some flexibility when building new housing and have been met with broad support from developers to affordable housing advocates.
Making way for apartment buildings and other multifamily housing — within walking distance to public transportation hubs such as Herron Station in Polish Hill — is long overdue, according to planning commissioner Phillip Wu.
“I think it's also a good way to increase affordable housing for those who don't have personal vehicles and for workforce housing as well,” Wu said. “Folks living along these transit lines will have easier access to their jobs, especially if they're Downtown or in Oakland.”
But one part of the plan has been met with resistance. Inclusionary zoning requires all new housing developments with more than 20 units to set aside a portion of those for lower-income residents. It’s been in place in the hot real estate market of Lawrenceville since 2019, and it’s now in place in Bloomfield, Polish Hill and parts of Oakland neighborhoods. This new plan would make it citywide.
The pushback comes from developers and some pro-housing advocates, who argue that creating more housing is the key to affordable housing and that inclusionary zoning makes building new housing more expensive and would result in fewer units overall. Other affordable housing advocates say that it helps build a mixed-income neighborhood, particularly where there’s access to shops, restaurants and public transit.
In Lawrenceville, inclusionary zoning has created 35 units of affordable housing with another 32 affordable units under construction. An additional 82 units in Lawrenceville and Oakland are a part of housing developments recently approved by the Planning Commission, according to the briefing.
The Planning Commission will vote on these changes on Dec. 10. From there, they’ll go on to City Council for review and a vote in the new year.
