URA OKs $2 million in federal funding to build affordable housing across Pittsburgh

More than $2 million in federal grants will help build for-sale affordable housing in eight Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority board on Thursday approved money to help build and rehabilitate 13 single-family homes through OwnPGH Construction Grants, using American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

The homes will ultimately be sold to individuals or families making between $56,640 for an individual to $106,880 for a family of eight.

“Home ownership is crucially important,” said Skip Schwab, deputy director of East Liberty Development, Inc., a nonprofit community development organization.

The group will get more than $200,000 to rehabilitate a pair of houses on Mayflower Street in the city’s Larimer neighborhood and another on Enright Court in East Liberty.

Amani Christian Community Development Corp. is receiving over $267,000 from the URA to help build two homes in the Crawford-Roberts neighborhood, marking the start of a larger effort to build 10 new affordable homes in the area.

“There’s a critical lack of (housing) inventory here in the Hill District, and we have people waiting to move into our community,” Rev. Lee Walls, the nonprofit’s executive chair, told the URA board Thursday.

Homebuyers will be encouraged to access funding from the URA’s OwnPGH initiative to make affordable homeownership accessible for low-income residents, said Ben Peyton, manager of residential lending at the authority.

The OwnPGH initiative — which was funded with more than $15.6 million through the American Rescue Plan Act — provides up to $90,000 of financing for eligible homebuyers.

Part of that money is a grant that does not have to be repaid, while the rest is a zero-interest deferred mortgage that is gradually forgiven.

Since launching in January 2023, the program has provided more than $5.5 million to over 100 recipients. According to the URA, the majority of recipients were women or Black with an average household income of around $48,000.

The initiative, URA Board Chair Kyle Chintalapalli said, will have a “generational impact” for recipients.

Rising Tide Partners on Thursday received more than $1.5 million for six for-sale affordable housing projects in the city’s East Hills, Hazelwood, Garfield and Perry Hilltop neighborhoods.

Hilltop Alliance was awarded nearly $106,000 to revitalize a home in the city’s St. Clair neighborhood.

The URA board unanimously approved the funding.