$26 million will fund Pittsburgh home ownership program

Pittsburgh officials have long discussed using affordable housing programs and a land bank to make home ownership a possibility for more residents and to transform blighted neighborhoods.

On Wednesday, the city announced that $26 million will be invested in those programs by its Urban Redevelopment Authority through a new program, dubbed “OwnPGH.”

It was launched at a news conference on Mayflower Street in the city’s Larimer neighborhood, outside a newly-constructed home the URA is in the process of selling.

OwnPGH will use $22 million in bonds that will be issued by the URA to offer loans to people interested in buying homes in the city. Another $4 million in URA cash will be placed in a fund to offer deferred second mortgages to pay for renovation costs.

“It’s focused on ownership. Ownership is a path to wealth and a middle-class lifestyle,” URA Executive Director Greg Flisram said.

Officials expect to be able to help about 100 families with the money, starting this fall.

City Councilman Ricky Burgess, who leads the board of the Pittsburgh Land Bank, announced that Diamonte Walker, the URA’s deputy director, will also lead the Land Bank. Greg Miller, an urban designer with the New York City planning department, will be hired as manager.

Formed in 2014, the Land Bank has floundered because of state laws requiring land banks to maintain properties they acquire. Until the moves announced Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Land Bank lacked the staff and resources to proceed, Burgess said.

But the city has about 7,000 vacant properties officials would like to return to the tax rolls.

“We’ve spent the last few years figuring out the nuances of organizing the program,” he said. “The Land Bank is now a standalone subsidiary of the URA. It has the URA staff as its muscle. This is the first step of what I think it going to be a multiple-tiered effort.”

Local officials lauded the work of state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, who is spearheading legislation that would make it easier for the Land Bank to acquire properties.

“We have to speed the process along,” said Fontana, who is also a Realtor.

Another part of the OwnPGH program is a change to the way the city’s Finance Department handles purchases of side yards or vacant lots next to occupied properties. The purchases can take years because of a backlog in processing title reports that are required.

Buyers will now be able to order their own title reports, which should speed up the process.

OwnPGH pulls together many of the tools the city has worked to develop over the last several years and offers funding for them, Mayor Bill Peduto said.

“It doesn’t happen without partnership,” he said.