How the Pittsburgh Zoning Code Makes Housing more Expensive

For the first six years of our marriage, my wife and I owned a two bedroom condominium in a ten story building in Squirrel Hill. We loved our condo, and it was so convenient not having to mow a lawn, shovel a driveway, or worry about exterior building maintenance. Since the condo didn’t have stairs, it made it easy to use a stroller, or bring in the cart for groceries, and would have enabled us to age in place if we could have stayed in the building. However, when we became pregnant with our second child we knew we needed more space. 

We tried to buy one of the three bedroom condos in our building, but were outbid. We ended up settling for a single family home in the same neighborhood. The home had about 50% more square footage than the three bedroom condo, and cost about 10% less. If we could have bought the same square footage for the same price it would have been easy to choose the condo.

With better government policies, the condo should not have been more expensive. Multi-family units are cheaper per square foot to build than single family homes. The reason they are often more expensive for consumers to buy is because the zoning code makes it illegal for developers to build them on most city land parcels. Therefore supply is much lower than demand.

This is unfortunate, not just because of the impact these restrictions have on the availability of affordable housing, but also because multi-family homes have large societal benefits.  They are better for the environment. Our energy use for heating and cooling was far lower in our condo than our house.

The higher population density that multi-family units allows for makes it economical to provide higher frequency transit service. High frequency service is more useful than low frequency service, and more likely to be attractive to riders who can afford a car.

Additionally, multi-family homes support more walkable business districts. The more customers a business district has, the greater diversity of stores it can support.  There are two ways to increase the number of customers.  One is to increase the number of people who live within walking distance and ensure those residents have good pedestrian infrastructure to access the business district safely. 

The alternative way to support more businesses is to allow more cars to drive and park at the business district. This is the approach that many of Pittsburgh’s suburbs have taken.  The accommodations for motorists with parking and high speed roads make it incredibly difficult to walk to get places.  The retail becomes so spread out that it often takes longer to get places by car than it does to walk in a pedestrian oriented neighborhood.

When the population density allows more amenities to be within walking distance, fewer trips need to be made by car. The car trips that remain necessary for some residents are often lower distances since things are closer together.

One misconception about allowing multi-family homes is that they will increase travel times by creating traffic. However, when the effects on pedestrian and transit mode share are considered, multi-family homes actually improve the transportation system. The benefits are particularly strong when homes are built with few or no off street parking as most residents will be without a car.  These buildings provide all of the transit and pedestrian benefits with none of the automobile traffic drawbacks. Unfortunately building homes without parking is illegal in most of Pittsburgh due to mandatory parking minimums in the zoning code.

A concern that some people have with condo or apartment buildings is they don’t look as beautiful as houses. In many cases in Pittsburgh this is the case. The house I live in now does have a more beautiful exterior than the condominium my wife and I loved.

However, tall buildings can be beautiful.  An example in Pittsburgh is the Cathedral of Learning.  When my wife and I vacationed in Barcelona we saw mid-rise buildings that are as beautiful as any buildings in Pittsburgh.

There are tools like form based zoning that the city could use to ensure that new multi-family homes provide a visual enhancement to Pittsburgh.

Mid-rise mixed use buildings in Barcelona

Pittsburgh should relax the zoning code so that developers can build taller buildings in more locations until the cost per square foot is lower than the cost for single family homes. The benefits of the relaxation are particularly large within the ½ mile walkshed of retail districts and bus stops or transit stations with frequent service.