By Joe Reuben, Bulletin contributor
As has become clear to many who live in the city’s East End today, the opportunity for working-class individuals and families to be able to own a home of their own is quickly moving beyond their reach. Home prices in Garfield and Bloomfield have moved beyond $200,000, and in surrounding neighborhoods like Stanton Heights and Morningside, they’ve even shot past $300,000. In Lawrenceville and East Liberty, there is virtually nothing available for under $400,000.
The efforts of groups like the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation and City of Bridges Community Land Trust are opening the doors to homeownership for some, but the number of people they can serve isn’t enough to make a serious dent in the problem. And the era of generous subsidies from agencies like the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority is fast coming to close as the state and federal governments tighten their budgetary belts. Although Gov. Josh Shapiro is proposing $50 million for a new home repair loan program, those funds, spread across 67 counties in the state, isn’t going to make much of a difference either, unfortunately. And that’s assuming the state Legislature will authorize this new spending in the Governor’s budget for 2025-26.
In the past 90 days, there has been some activity on Capitol Hill in Washington that could bring some relief to this dire situation. A bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., that, if approved by both the Senate and the House, would allow for the use of federal tax credits in developing housing for future homeowners. Even as Congress is slashing federal programs left and right these days, tax credits continue to be a popular way for politicians of both parties to support new investment in housing.
In Garfield alone, federal tax credits have fueled the development of three apartment projects (the Fairmont Apartments, North Aiken Commons, and the Penn-Mathilda Apts.), as well as 89 rental homes the BGC has built in Garfield since 2012 that are leased to working-class families. The large, mixed-income development known as Garfield Commons has also benefited from the use of the same tax credits.
The new legislation in Washington is called the “Neighborhood Homes Investment Act,” and the writers of the bill have wisely tailored it so that it would benefit both urban and rural communities. It would give the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency in Harrisburg a new tool to use that is very similar to the one it now deploys for rental housing developments. The act’s estimated impact over the next 10 years would be to create up to 500,000 new or renovated homes nationwide that would be kept affordable for buyers earning under $100,000/year to be able to purchase. It would also create funding for home repair loans on a much larger scale than what Gov. Shapiro’s budget is contemplating doing at the moment.
Chris Rosselot, policy director for the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), has been leading the charge locally for the legislation, known as “Senate Bill 1686.” Rosselot is asking city residents to contact the bill’s sponsors in the Senate through their staff’s e-mail addresses: Greg Warren in Senator Young’ s office (greg_warren@young.senate.gov) or Alex Porter in Senator Warner’s office (alex_porter@warner.senate.gov). He is also suggesting that people reach out to our own U.S. Senator, John Fetterman, (john_fetterman@fetterman.senate.gov) and ask that he become a co-sponsor of the bill. If anyone wishes to contact Rosselot to get more involved, he can be reached at crosselot@pcrg.org.