Against the background of more than 200 residents facing possible eviction from Penn Plaza Apartments in East Liberty, whose owners plan to redevelop, the Pittsburgh Affordable Housing Task Force held its first meeting.
It did not lack for participation, as nearly all of its members were in attendance, filling every available chair in the CityStats Conference Room in the City-County Building, July 30.
The task force grew out of negotiations with the Pittsburgh Penguins over development of the former Civic Arena site, and legislation submitted by city Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who serves as co-chair along with City Planning Director Ray Gastil.
Lavelle thanked everyone for coming, noting that a lot of organizational housekeeping had to be done before recommendations could be formalized into a plan for a citywide comprehensive housing policy.
“I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution to the needs of every neighborhood,” he said.
“Our goal is to build diverse, thriving communities. I believe inclusionary zoning (for affordable housing) should be done here and now and vacant lot stabilization should be done here and now.”
Mayor Bill Peduto stopped by to tell the Task Force members they have his support.
“This isn’t about what’s being done in LA or in Seattle, it’s about what we can do,” he said. “Some of our neighborhoods have little need, while in others the need is huge. But we’re not going build mansions of poverty like they did in the 1950s and 1960s.
“We need a new model. It will take time, unfortunately, some people don’t have a lot of time.”
Gastil agreed as he laid out agenda items, noting several things that had to be done before any semblance of policy could emerge. Among these were:
•Assigning members to various subcommittees;
•Clarifying definitions of affordable housing and workforce housing;
•Needs assessment based on neighborhoods;
•Community engagement, how many community meetings and where to have them; and
•Creating a single access site for all data and documents on lot and property ownership, zoning, vacant lots, building inspection criteria, etcetera.
He also noted the task force is already behind schedule.
“The legislation says we should publish a report by tomorrow (July 31). Clearly that’s not going to happen,” he said. “We still need to schedule community meetings. I’d like to do a minimum of two—three would be nice—in different parts of the city. The first one in the fall? That’s about as fast as we can. It’s not going to be fast enough for the Penn Plaza residents.”
As to that issue, Peduto said he would use the developer’s request for a zoning variance to acquire the roughly 8-acre public park space, known as Enright Parklet, at Penn Plaza as leverage to get them to include affordable housing in their redevelopment.
Kevin Acklin, Peduto’s chief of staff and Urban Redevelopment Authority board chair, said previously they would not move ahead with approvals unless they had commitments for affordable housing and that any development would be phased to so that residents aren’t “kicked out of their homes.”
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