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Originally Posted by eschaton
URA agenda is up for tomorrow.
The most interesting thing to note here is plan to fund 100 First Avenue's residential conversion. The office building will be converted into senior housing, with 93 one-bedroom, Section 8 units. This is...fine. Again, I don't have an issue with these projects in isolation. But the URA and the city are trying to fast-track downtown conversions, and I've noticed essentially all of them are affordable housing, and I remain concerned that the Golden Triangle will become the unofficial dumping ground for lower-income folks within the next 10-20 years.
The URA is also passing along further funding to the conversion of the Triangle Building on Liberty, which should be wrapping up this year. This is a relatively small project - 15 units, of which nine will be affordable to some degree - but it has faced cost overruns due to the poor conditions within the building.
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What location would you dump these folks? Downtown is ideal for "affordable" housing because of access to metro jobs. All transportation routes lead to downtown Pittsburgh. For decades Pittsburgh has envisioned downtown as a neighborhood. I do not recall Pittsburgh limiting the new units to high income earners. A person working at the PNC call center or Highmark should have downtown options as well. Someone working at Five Below or Target should have a nearby residential option. Downtown living and building conversions is not new. I doubt that city leaders would turn downtown Pittsburgh into a housing project. That sounds ridiculous. Low income earners deserve safe and affordable housing in the city proper.