Frustrated by a year of delays, two Pittsburgh City Council members on Tuesday renewed their efforts to enact legislation that would permit tiny houses and other temporary managed communities for the city’s homeless.
Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, said he initially hoped those communities would be available last winter.
But the Planning Commission held up the proposal for months, and Coghill and Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, withdrew it in August.
Now, with temperatures dropping again, Coghill is hoping finally to get the necessary approvals to provide a better option for people stuck choosing between living on the streets or staying in group shelters that often lack privacy and make some people feel unsafe.
Coghill and Gross have said the goal is to provide safer, more dignified housing options while people get back on their feet and work to find more stable housing.
Under their new proposal, the city would allow temporary communities of tiny houses or other forms of interim housing. It also would allow for renovating existing buildings into temporary shelters where people could have their own rooms.
No interim housing community could remain in place for longer than four years.
Tiny-house communities in other cities have been heralded as successes.
Temporary communities in Pittsburgh would have electricity, running water and trash removal, plus services like job training, mental health care and help finding more permanent housing.
Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration had initially been skeptical of Coghill and Gross’s proposal, arguing it could force city leaders to wipe out unregulated homeless camps. Other city officials dismissed that notion.
After the two council members withdrew their proposal, Gainey reintroduced the concept in September as part of a broader zoning reform package, despite initially raising concerns about the idea.
But council has put that package on hold.
Against that backdrop, Coghill and Gross introduced anew their proposal focusing on tiny homes or other temporary communities.
The idea is to push that piece through council even as the larger zoning package is stalled.