With Pittsburgh's Powell as co-chair, Housing Caucus seeks affordability, zoning reform

Pittsburgh state House member Lindsay Powell on Monday launched a bipartisan pro-housing caucus in Harrisburg, with aims of lowering home costs by creating more residential units across the state.

The effort to greenlight higher-density construction will have three pillars, she said: “producing more housing, preserving the housing that we have, and protecting Pennsylvanians’ access to housing.”

Powell was joined for a press conference in the Capitol by caucus co-chair Rep. Tim Twardzik, a Schuylkill County Republican, and a dozen House colleagues.

Political attention to zoning issues — and the patchwork of restrictive local zoning rules in Pittsburgh and other cities — has increased in recent years as housing costs have risen, and advocates have pushed for less restrictive zoning as a way to lower housing costs.

Upcoming pro-housing bills won’t dictate what local governments have to do, Powell said.

"We want to make sure that we are passing legislation that enables each municipality to be as creative as they want to,” she said in an interview. “We don't want to prescribe housing solutions for them, but — for those that are trying to do more creative things around land banking and land trusts and zoning reform — being able to let them do that as easily as possible.”

While zoning is controlled by local municipalities, the state has ultimate deciding power over what’s called “land-use authority,” said David Vatz, leader of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, a volunteer-run advocacy group.

“The state vests land-use authority in the municipalities,” Vatz said. “It's not the other way around.”

And if the lawmakers can untangle the knot of restrictive local zoning laws, builders could start to reverse the state’s housing crisis, said Stacie Reidenbaugh, leader of the Pennsylvania Housing Choices Coalition, a 42-organization advocacy group.

“A patchwork of local laws and hyper-regulation doesn't make sense for community members, for builders, or for our state,” said Reidenbaugh, who spoke at the caucus announcement. “Local management of exactly what you can build in very narrow circumstances has only led us to this housing crisis and a very limited supply.”

Still, some local officials don’t want to give up control over land-use to state lawmakers, said Vatz, who called zoning reform “a politically fraught issue.” Last session, his group pushed for a bill that would require municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to permit the construction of multi-family residential units in areas where only single-family residences were once allowed. (It did not come up for a House floor vote).

“I don’t think the state is going to come in and say, ‘You need to allow 100-story buildings everywhere,’” Vatz said, “but the state might come in and say, ‘You need to limit the amount of parking requirements, you need to allow low-impact residential – duplexes and triplexes – in more places.’”

This session Powell has already introduced bills to make permanent a federally-funded shared housing and resource exchange program, subsidize home-ownership initiatives for people making between 60-120% of the area median income, and – along with caucus co-chair Twardzik – create a blighted property registry meant to keep negligent owners accountable.

Her new caucus will seek input from local government associations as it rolls out new initiatives, Powell said. Twardzik said taking into account the needs and struggles of seniors and longtime home owners will also be a caucus priority: they should also benefit from new laws meant to keep people in their homes.

The City of Bridges Community Land Trust said it welcomed the caucus – and hoped it would provide a chance to “preserve the fabric of changing neighborhoods, especially those whose populations are historically disenfranchised, and create opportunities for first-time homeownership with a commitment to permanent affordability.”

“We commend Rep. Powell's leadership around fulfilling the critical need for more affordable housing stock, which is essential for empowering our neighbors to thrive and build a future in Allegheny County,” said Rebecca Aguilar-Francis, executive director of the land trust, in a statement.

Kate Giammarise contributed reporting.