Title
Ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh City Code, Title Two: Fiscal, Article IX: Property Taxes, Chapter 267 - Exemptions for Industrial and Commercial Improvements.
(Public Hearing held 10/10/18)
Body
Whereas the Council of the City of Pittsburgh finds as follows:
1. Pittsburgh has provided tax abatements in recent years to spur industrial and commercial real estate development and investment throughout the City. These abatements have always been structured to respond to current needs, however, those needs change over time.
2. Pittsburgh today needs increased investment in affordable housing and continued investment in the creation, retention, and attraction of employment opportunities within the City.
3. As evidenced by the work of this Council and the Affordable Housing Task Force, there is an identified need for increased investment in the production and preservation of rental housing that is affordable to low and very-low incomes throughout the City, as illustrated by the fact that over half of low-income Pittsburgh households pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs.
4. Current conditions in the City require the use of public assistance to construct new housing, or improve deteriorated property, for the purposes of providing commercial residential accommodations affordable to households with low incomes and, furthermore, the Inclusionary Housing Working Group identified tax abatements as one of the most important tools the City can leverage to increase investment in affordable housing.
5. The City can use the tax abatement structure to increase the production of quality affordable and mixed-income housing, to spur redevelopment in areas of low investment, to ensure housing that is affordable to households with low, very-low, and extremely-low incomes in areas of high opportunity throughout the city, and to increase available employment opportunities within the city.
6. Creating a revised structure for tax abatements ...
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