First up
Our partners with the Pittsburgh Housing Justice Table and the Right To Counsel Campaign are looking for your support in the fight for tenants to receive free legal representation and services during eviction cases in the City of Pittsburgh. You can sign the petition to help us reach our goal!
Exciting news coming out of the Pittsburgh Land Bank
Mayor Ed Gainey introduced legislation that would expand the land bank’s board from 9 to 11 seats. The move is to include representation from the Pittsburgh Public Schools and Allegheny County – both taxing bodies. If passed, this would solidify membership on the PLB Board of all the taxing bodies.
Speaking of taxing bodies, Gainey also introduced legislation that would establish an agreement between the three taxing authorities (Pittsburgh City, PPS, and the Allegheny County) allowing the land bank to waive back taxes on abandoned properties. PCRG and its members have long pushed for the taxing body agreements, which will allow the Pittsburgh Land Bank to fulfill its original intent as well as help bring properties back to the tax rolls, help revitalize neighborhoods and increase affordable housing opportunities.
Downtown Developments
As the downtown golden triangle continues to see increasing office vacancy rates, Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson is sponsoring legislation that would expand the tax abatement to 10 years and lift the current cap amount of $250,000 under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance, or LERTA program.
A few weeks ago, Wilson was joined by some of his colleagues on council, as well as real estate developers and economic development agencies and announced the legislation could serve as an additional incentive for the developers to convert office and commercial space into residential. City Council is planning hearing discuss this legislation at its meeting on Wednesday, April 3 and you can sign up to provide comment.
We would prefer to see a more of a needs-based approach to the abatement process and not a blanket-wide, unlimited amount over a 10-year period. Additionally with the incentive that high, we believe that the ratio of affordable units should be higher.
City Plan Moving Forward
In case you missed it, the Department of City Planning kicked off their plans for the City of Pittsburgh’s first ever comprehensive plan. Mayor Gainey proposed, and city council approved the allocation of $6 million to go towards the two-year plan, which includes hiring a team of consultants as well as staff from multiple city departments.
A key figure who advocated for the comprehensive plan was Director of City Planning Karen Abrams, who announced she’s leaving her post on April 8, and will be replaced by Dr. Jamil Bey of Urban Kind Institute. PCRG looks forward to working with Dr. Bey in his new capacity and wishes Karen luck in her next role!
Allegheny County’s New Chief Housing Strategist
County Executive Sara Innamorato continues to build out her team and recently announced that Ed Nusser, PCRG alum and non-profit housing developer, will be the new chief housing strategist for Allegheny County. Congratulations to Ed!
NAP Update
A statewide coalition of community organizations and nonprofits throughout the Commonwealth are gaining momentum on expanding funding to the Neighborhood Assistance Program, or NAP, from $36 million to $72 million – as well as increasing the corporate contribution limit to $2.5 million.
Our advocacy is on two fronts:1) pushing Rep. Aerion Abney’s bill, HB 1429, to the full House for a vote (BTW it passed out of the finance committee 24-1) and 2) getting support from senators on the Yaw/Miller memo, which will establish the senate companion bill.
As of right now, 26 senators (out of 50) have signed on to co-sponsor the bill. You can stay up to date on all NAP happenings, including information on the legislation, how to reach out to your legislator and respond to any other call to action by visiting our NAP resource page.
Stop the Merger
PCRG applauds our partners with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, or NCRC, as well as other organizations throughout the country that oppose the Capital One-Discover merger. The $35.3 billion agreement by Capital One to acquire Discover would create the sixth largest lender in the country-- with over 20% of the market-- and threaten competition in both the credit and banking markets.
NCRC joined other groups is sending a letter to Federal regulators FDIC, Federal Reserve, the Office of Comptroller of Currency and the Department of Justice asking them to block the proposed merger.
We are also concerned about what the merger would do to the banking industry after regulators moved to stabilize the financial system after the 2008 financial meltdown. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, regulators are required to consider impacts on the stability of the system caused by mergers —which in this case would surpass the size of Goldman Sachs. Capital One has a poor lending record and has been considered predatory in the past, including in 2018 when the Treasury and OCC found them liable for violating anti-money laundering laws, and fined them $500 million over the past six years.
In Land We Trust
Sen. Coretez Masto (D-NV) and Rep. Joyce Betty (D-Ohio) recently introduced S.3793, HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2024,which aims to expand essential funding to community land trusts, or CLTs, and other shared equity homeownership programs. It would also tackle long-standing barriers that CLT’s face, as the HOME Program is one of the most utilized and mainstream federal homeownership programs. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is listed as a co-sponsor.