Pittsburgh Community Housing
Pittsburgh Community Housing (PCH) was established in 2015 to provide affordable housing for families with children in Stewart Center programming. PCH promotes personal and community transformation through strategic housing solutions. PCH families raise their children in homes that are safe, affordable, and consistent – providing children with the best chance to be successful. By purchasing and rehabbing delapidated properties, PCH transforms blight into beauty and helps our community reach its full potential.
Residents
Home is essential to humanity. It impacts our identity and it influences our future. In many ways home determines our potential. Home is more than four walls and a roof, it that place deep in our souls where we belong, where we came from. The Stewart Center helps our neighbors create home for their families.
Almost all PCH residents have children in Stewart Center programing and many participate in the Center’s wellness initiatives. Pittsburgh Community Housing is much more than a landlord, we are a partner on life’s journey. All residents are in lease-purchase agreements and have access to financial support through education and mentoring.
Pittsburgh Community Housing is committed to helping families reach financial stability. Through community partners, the Center offers homeownership education and down payment assistance for residents seeking to purchase their homes.
Neighborhood
Long-term residents of the Pittsburgh community have endured the hardships that come with living in an overlooked, under-resourced community. As public and private investment have found Pittsburgh, many of the long-term residents that have held on through the lean years are now endanger of being displaced as conditions improve.
In the years after the great recession (2008-2012), over 50% of the homes in Pittsburgh were vacant, many of them open and vacant. As outside investors realized the potential of the community, housing prices rapidly increased. The community has seen a 250% increase in property values since 2015. This type of transition makes it difficult for low and moderate income residents to afford housing.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about 60% of neighborhood households have an annual income below $35,000. As the built environment improves and new resources serve the neighborhood it is crucial to protect affordable housing for current residents. Pittsburgh Community Housing is in the fifth year of a fifteen year commitment to develop affordable housing in the neighborhood.
Families
Pittsburgh Community Housing currently has 15 homes in service, providing affordable housing for 55 residents. PCH families have an average household income of 42% of Area Median Income.
Current Project
In late summer PCH purchased a quadplex that we are rehabbing into a five-unit building consisting of 1 & 2 bedroom appartments. The project will completed in the first half of 2021
Investment
Since 2015, Pittsburgh Community Housing has invested $1.5 million in affordable housing in the Pittsburgh community. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has provided another $900K to amplify PCH's investment. PCH has plans to invest over $500K on projects in 2021.