Solving a shortage of affordable housing in Pittsburgh will require better coordination among municipalities across Allegheny County, according to a local nonprofit.

The county does not control zoning. Instead, more than 130 local municipalities set their own rules, which makes it difficult to guide housing development.

Ebony Flowers, Pittsburgh policy analyst for the advocacy group New Voices for Reproductive Justice, said demand continues to outpace available housing and the county is moving toward a more coordinated housing approach under its “Housing for All” program. She added the strategy aims to bring alignment and coordination across all municipalities.

"It's more or less about control and more about creating priorities, treating housing as a regional issue rather than a series of disconnected local decisions," Flowers explained. "I think that coordination is really critical, and it's going to make them address the housing shortage more meaningfully."

According to new data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Pennsylvania has just 39 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income households. To meet the need, the report argued the state must add 263,000 affordable homes and expand rental assistance.

Flowers pointed out the proposed Housing Investment Fund would provide large-scale financing of $50 million to $100 million for affordable and mixed-income housing. She noted in Pittsburgh many projects, especially affordable or mixed-income developments, do not usually fail because they're not needed but because there is a gap between available funding and total costs.

"The role of this fund is typically to provide more flexible capital that can help close these gaps and move the projects forward," Flowers stressed. "This is not about replacing what exists but helping support existing tools and more about complementing them in a more strategic way."

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed 2026-2027 budget allocates $1 million to support stable housing. The investment builds on strategies in the Commonwealth’s first Housing Action Plan, which focuses on promoting housing stability and long-term sustainability to benefit individuals and communities.

Source: Public News Service