Three more families are on their way to owning a home in Homewood.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Pittsburgh broke ground Sept. 30 on three new single-family homes at 7606 Tioga St. in the city's East End, joined by Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor. According to Habitat Pittsburgh's announcement, the homes are being built by Habitat Pittsburgh on property acquired through its partnership with the City of Pittsburgh Land Bank, and they'll provide first-time homeownership to three families.
Each home will be sold with an affordable, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 0% interest. Habitat told WPXI it hopes to have the homes finished within the next six months.
Building on what's already there
This isn't Habitat's first time on the block. The group has built and sold seven homes in Homewood, and three of them sit right next to the new site, according to the release. WPXI reported those three neighboring homes were built in 2022.
Dr. Howard B. Slaughter Jr., Habitat Pittsburgh's president and CEO, said the three new homeowners are ready to go.
"We have three families; they have kids, they're excited and they're really looking forward to this next phase of development here," Slaughter told WPXI.
He also explained why the group keeps coming back to Homewood. "When you have a community that's a high concentration of transient individuals, it lacks in stabilization," he said.
In the release, Slaughter put it in long-term terms. "Homeownership can change the trajectory of an entire community and the impact of today will be felt for decades," he said. "Children will grow up in these homes. Families will build equity."
Habitat board chair Christina Morascyzk, a senior vice president of real estate at Giant Eagle, summed up the approach to WPXI: "This is not a handout; this is a hand up for hard-working families who need it."
Howard W. "Hoddy" Hanna III, chairman of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, was also on the speaking list for the event.
The Land Bank angle
The city's role is the land. Mayor O'Connor said the Land Bank is helping turn vacant lots into places for families to live.
"Great neighborhoods are built through strong community partnerships," O'Connor said in the release. "By working alongside Habitat for Humanity of Greater Pittsburgh, the Land Bank is helping to transform vacant lots into new opportunities for families and paving new pathways to homeownership."
He told WPXI the city has a lot more land to work with. "When we look at the land bank, the city has thousands of parcels of land. We can't build all at once, but we do have infrastructure money to clean the sites out because if you look across the city, most vacant lots are where people used to live."
That last point will ring true for anyone who has worked in Pittsburgh's older neighborhoods. Many of the empty lots in places like Homewood once held houses. Getting those lots cleaned up and back into use is the first step toward rebuilding the blocks around them.
This year marks Habitat Pittsburgh's 40th anniversary of providing affordable homeownership and home repair for low-income families in the city and Allegheny County. Habitat Pittsburgh is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International.
The release doesn't give a project cost or name any outside builders or suppliers.
For the families, a 0% mortgage makes a huge difference. With no interest, every monthly payment goes toward the house itself, which is how a modest income can turn into real equity over 30 years.
Why it matters for Contractors
Three homes isn't a big job, but this kind of infill is how a lot of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods are getting rebuilt. Habitat Pittsburgh is building these homes itself, so there's no contract to chase here, but its steady presence in Homewood shows that the neighborhood is seeing new investment. The mayor's comments are worth noting, too. The city has thousands of Land Bank parcels and money to clean up sites, which points to more lot clearing and site prep ahead, and eventually more small-scale infill housing. Contractors who are set up to build one, two or three homes at a time on city lots could find steady work as the Land Bank moves more property.