Editorial: Mayor’s housing proposal a worthwhile experiment

Needy families and empty homes are a perfect pair , and if a new proposal from Mayor Peduto is successful, the city will soon be playing matchmaker.

The program, Bridges Beyond Blight, aims to fill vacant homes across the city by making them available to families applying for Section 8 housing assistance. Abandoned homes are a serious issue for the city — in November, Liz Hersh, executive director of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania told WESA that there are 16,000 to 20,000 vacant properties in Pittsburgh.

Though the most obvious benefit of the program would be finding safe homes for more families, Bridges Beyond Blight creates an opportunity to enhance communities through education and local employment. That is, if the program is designed with economic progress in mind.

Currently, families receive federal subsidies to pay landlords for rent. Renters pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, with government vouchers filling in the difference.

The new system would create a path to homeownership instead of exclusively providing rental assistance, allowing families to create a more secure foundation in their communities. If instituted, Bridges Beyond Blight would project the value of a family’s rental vouchers over 30 years. The money that would normally go toward providing those vouchers monthly would instead go toward purchasing one of Pittsburgh’s empty homes.

The program targets two of the city’s most pressing issues at once: affordable housing and urban blight. But it also provides an opportunity to engage community members in revitalizing the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Truly transforming communities requires more than improving the buildings, and providing the opportunity for service-based learning is a chance to help needy families escape the circumstances that originally stuck them there.

These purchased homes are largely in need of renovations too extensive for the prior homeowners to cover. Before new residents can move in, the city will need to remodel these homes for safety hazards, which opens the door for new work and educational programs in the process.

Students from area high schools could benefit from hands-on learning projects that have the tangible benefit of helping a family in need. More importantly, members of the communities themselves can learn new skill sets while making the homes truly their own.

Taking advantage of the chance to employ city-based developers in rehabilitations should be an integral part of any housing development program in the city. Building community roots must start from the ground up.

While this new approach is an innovative idea, it leaves a number of large questions unanswered. Any program that relies on a 30-year cost projection is optimistic. As these repaired houses repopulate areas of blight, the property value of the program’s areas will likely rise.

When that happens, the gentrification could eventually force out people seeking homes once again. These renovations will also take time to complete.

Some houses may need a fresh coat of paint — others may need a new plumbing system. For such a large commitment, interested families could be stuck on a waiting list for months.

Partnerships with businesses that have a presence in the area, like Home Depot and Google, might help fund the community education programs. Rent caps could protect current renters worried about growing neighborhood value. These are not simple problems or solutions. But if the city truly wants to commit to protecting Pittsburghers struggling to keep roofs over their heads, it must get used to direct, regular involvement in the neighborhoods it rebuilds and continue to think longterm.    

Bridges Beyond Blight could serve as a worthwhile experiment in a city with too many people looking for stability. Hopefully lack of vision does not leave those in need out in the cold.