Pittsburgh leaders argue over discounts for landlords buying vacant city land
Pittsburgh City Council is considering halting a program to sell vacant blighted properties on the cheap while council members debate who should be allowed to enjoy the discount.
The Side Yard Sale Program allows property owners to purchase certain vacant, city-owned properties adjacent to their own for $200.
Some council members believe any adjacent property owner should be able to use the program.
But Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, wants to bar landlords and property owners who don’t live next to the vacant land from using the program and instead have them pay market rates if they want to acquire the parcel.
Gross wants to restrict the discount program to neighboring homeowners. She is pushing to put the program on hold while council members iron out their differences.
In August, Gross introduced a measure to block low-cost purchases by landlords and other property owners, but the bill has stalled for weeks.
“We really haven’t come to any conclusions,” Gross said Wednesday. “In fact, it feels like we’ve raised more questions.”
It is unclear how many properties are eligible for the program, which applies only to empty city-owned lots that are no larger than 5,000 square feet.
Deed restrictions on those properties prohibit people from developing the land, but the sites can be used to expand yards, plant gardens and build decks or swimming pools.
“I think we need a much more comprehensive study of all of our properties that are vacant and abandoned,” Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side, said.
Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, rejected the notion of stopping the entire program for the foreseeable future.
“This is one thing we do to move properties,” said Charland, who has advocated for getting empty sites back to productive uses and back on the tax rolls. “I’m not necessarily comfortable with suspending the program while we figure it out. I don’t know that we’ll be able to any time in the near future.”
Council is expected next week to take a final vote to pause the program indefinitely.
Julia Burdelski is a TribLive reporter covering Pittsburgh City Hall and other news in and around Pittsburgh. A La Roche University graduate, she joined the Trib in 2020. She can be reached at jburdelski@triblive.com.
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