With home sale prices growing faster than anywhere in the country, the Steel City could enact major reforms to boost density and lower housing costs.
A raft of proposed city policies in Pittsburgh take aim at housing affordability, reports Deidre Woollard for Benzinga. The proposal, to be presented to city council next year, would legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and incentivize transit-oriented development (TOD), focusing on multifamily housing near transit stops. “In April, Redfin reported that Steel City had the fastest-growing sales price in the country, up 22% year over year.”
The city also plans to change the parking requirements for new housing to create more walkable mixed-use development and pave the way for adaptive reuse. Another zoning change is an update to the minimum lot size per unit, allowing more apartment buildings to be built on smaller lots.
The proposed reforms would require 10 percent affordable units in buildings with 20 units or more. However, “Local housing advocate Davit Vatz of Pro-Housing told CoStar News that inclusionary zoning can work against affordable housing goals if developers build fewer units to skirt the rules.”
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research