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Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 115 No. 15 Two Sections
APRIL 10-16, 2024
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Mayor Gainey UNFILTERED Addressing the affordable housing crisis PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY
by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Affordable housing is a major problem in the City of Pittsburgh. Many African Americans who once lived in East Liberty, Uptown, the South Side Flats area and parts of the Central North Side have been uprooted, with sparkling, flashy new apartment developments that, if the developers had their way, would have all the units priced at market-rate. But in the words of Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gain-
ey, the city's first Black mayor, "if you're coming to ask me for city subsidy, I'm gonna tell you what I need; I need affordability. In providing affordability we are re-establishing neighborhoods," the mayor told the New Pittsburgh Courier during his 75-minute exclusive sitdown with the Courier editorial board, Jan. 23. This article is the third installment of the Courier's series, "Mayor Gainey Unfiltered." The first two reports focused on the mayor's "culture change" that he brought to the City
of Pittsburgh Mayor's Office, including making the workplace safer for many of its Department of Public Works employees and establishing a new contract with the city's police officers and firefighters; and the mayor's strategy towards fighting gun violence. More than 10,000 Black people left the City of Pittsburgh between 2010 and 2020, according to U.S. Census data. Most of them probably didn't want to leave, but when rents started going up, or in the case of the Penn
Plaza Apartments, a mostly-Black set of buildings in East Liberty that were torn down to make way for a new development anchored by Whole Foods, it left African Americans no choice but to flee. "When we came in, there was no plan for affordable housing," Mayor Gainey told the Courier when he took office in January 2022. "We had to create this, so we're creating it as we go and we're being able to make sure we use the tools that we have to be able to do it." One of those tools was
the announcement of a $31.575 million bond, about $30.6 million of which to be used to make "unprecedented investments into affordable housing that Pittsburgh residents so urgently need," according to a City of Pittsburgh press release from Dec. 28, 2023. That collaboration between the city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh has come to fruition with an announcement on April 3, 2024, of the "Affordable Housing Bond Spending Plan." The plan
estimates the creation or preservation of 1,000 affordable housing rental or for-sale units within the next three years. Half of the funds used for the plan would benefit families and individuals at or below 30 percent of the Area Median Income, 25 percent of the funds would benefit those at or below 50 percent of the AMI, and the remaining 25 percent would support homeownership opportunities for people at or below 80 perSEE GAINEY A6
Urban League’s East Hills Family Support Center ‘reintroduced’ to its residents Programs and fun activities being planned as spring hits by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
On Feb. 28, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh's East Hills Family Support Center was packed with local residents checking out the professional attire they may need for their next job interview. But that's only part of what happens there. Similar to how universities have a main location and then satellite branches, the Urban League works the same way in Pittsburgh. Its headquarters is Downtown at 332 Fifth Avenue inside the Warner Center, but it has three Family Support Centers—Duquesne, at 1 Library Place; Northview Heights, at 437 Mt. Pleasant Road; and East Hills, at 2320 East Hills Drive Rear. Maurice Lucas, the East Hills location's site di-
rector, partnered with the people at Dress For Success Pittsburgh, who brought a wide variety of casual and professional clothing that residents received—for free. People like Darlene Hunter, of Northview Heights, and Adele Whitson, of East Hills, attended and found some nice clothing, they told the New Pittsburgh Courier. For Whitson, she said after 13 years of her job in food service, she's looking to secure a job interview for a different type of job, but a job that still allows her to work with people. "We provide clothing to women who are entering or returning to the workforce, or are going through some sort of transition," said Alex Marks, the Dress For Success Pittsburgh Mobile Services Lead. "We SEE URBAN LEAGUE A5
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SOME OF THE STAFF OF THE URBAN LEAGUE’S FAMILY SUPPORT CENTERS, WHICH ARE LOCATED IN EAST HILLS, DUQUESNE AND NORTHVIEW HEIGHTS. A “DRESS FOR SUCCESS” EVENT WAS HELD, FEB. 28, AT THE EAST HILLS LOCATION. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)