Port Authority is currently working on their transit oriented development (TOD) guidelines. Pittsburghers for Public Transit is encouraging transit and housing advocates to address the board during the public comment period of their board meeting on March 18th, 930 am, 345 Sixth Ave, 5th floor.
You can sign up here by March 11 at 5 pm. Or email info@
Here are PPT’s initial talking points. We will have updates on this next week:
We would like to commend the agency for developing transit oriented development (TOD) guidelines. We also want to commend them for including affordable housing as a fundamental principle for equitable TOD. Riders and residents are paying close attention to this issue and expect the guidelines for affordable housing in TOD to be robust and enforceable. The Port Authority–in consultation with the communities, developers, municipalities, authorities, departments–must ensure that adequate affordable housing is near the most frequent and accessible transit service.
To date, TOD in our region has not included adequate affordable housing. For example, the East Liberty Transit Center. The Eastside Bond apartments, built right along the busway, include 360 units. Not one of them is affordable. Rentals start at 1100 for a studio and go up to 3600 for a 2 bedroom. East Liberty Place South is part of this TOD, but that is only 61 affordable units. And as property values go up in this neighborhood, long-time residents (many of whom are reliant on transit) need to be protected from displacement.
The Port Authority is currently involved in three developments along the T in the South Hills (Dormont, Castle Shannon, and South Hills Village), and not one of these plans includes affordable housing. PPT insists that all TOD should include affordable housing. This is not only good for communities but also good for the transit agency, who can count on strong ridership from these residents. We cannot allow folks to be displaced to communities with little to no transit service.
