TIM STEVENS (Courier Photo/File)
A week before the primary election, Black Political Empowerment Project founder Tim Stevens sent a letter to both Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Councils, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and all the mayoral candidates calling for a moratorium on housing demolition, particularly in Pittsburgh’s East End.
With the election now over, B-PEP will go before city council May 29 to again promote the idea of having community agencies like Community Empowerment Association and House of Manna rehab some of these homes and in the process teach local youth trade skills they could translate into good-paying jobs.
“We believe this rapid demolition of our valuable housing stock is not only a harm to the image of the community, but also an extreme waste of public resources, as the money allocated to tear down these homes could instead be re-allocated to rehab many of these properties,” said Stevens.
He said there are more than 230 condemned properties in Homewood alone.
“We’re not saying don’t tear down any houses. One’s that present an imminent danger to the neighborhood should go, obviously,” he said. “But my hope is this will spark a conversation about finding a positive, more productive approach that can help re-instill hope an pride within these communities.”
Stevens said his letter might have already had an effect. He said Derek Lopez, president and CEO of the Homewood Children’s Village who told him he’d asked the city to tear down two near-by burned-out buildings and was told it couldn’t be done because the city is honoring with the moratorium.
Lopez, who was traveling for the holiday, did not respond to emails for comment by New Pittsburgh Courier deadline. But Bureau of Building Inspection Demolition Manager Paul Loy said that report was news to him, adding he had not been told anything about a moratorium.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” he said. “But our priority is always to do the ‘worst of the worst’ first.”
Contrary to popular myth, Loy said, the city doesn’t own the bulk of these properties. The ones it takes in tax sales go up for resale almost immediately, so they can be put back on the rolls.
“Unless it’s an immediate hazard, we only demo properties after several attempts to contact the owner about making repairs or taking it down themselves,” he said. “Otherwise, the last letter they get is one saying, ‘your building’s been razed and you owe us for the work.’”
The problem is, even if some of the houses Stevens listed are salvageable, no government agency, bank or foundation is going to pay, say $50,000 a piece (roughly $2.5 million) to a nonprofit to fix them, unless they have title to the properties. Otherwise an owner could reappear and say thanks for the free work.
Stevens said he has no idea how to pay for the initiative and is hoping council can come up with a “creative” solution after his presentation May 29.
Democratic mayoral primary winner Councilman Bill Peduto, who first proposed employing community agencies and youth to revitalize the city’s housing stock months ago during his campaign, said he would work to move the idea forward.
“You deal with the properties you do have title to, and there are thousands that either the city or the (Urban Redevelopment Authority) owns,” he said. “You have to work with third parties, some are already doing it now one house at a time. We could use part of demolition budget of around $4 million a year, and we could double or triple number of homes renovated.
“It’s not a money maker for the city, but it can be a long term investment for homes and jobs to be done through faith-based and nonprofits in their own communities.”
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