When Pittsburghers think of their rivalry with Cleveland, they often feel quite superior. The Steelers are 31-8-1 against the Browns over the last 20 years, after all.
Some people think, though, that the Steel City could learn something from Cleveland when it comes to affordable housing programs.
Bobby Wilson, a Pittsburgh city councilor and board chair of the Pittsburgh Land Bank, said Pittsburgh’s relatively new land bank is doing “similar stuff” to Cleveland’s, but at a much smaller scale.
“Cleveland, they’re just lightyears ahead of us in terms of their land bank and how they’re funding their land bank,” said Wilson, a Democrat who represents part of the North Side. “It’s what we seek to do that they’re doing on steroids.”
A land bank is a tool for local governments to cut through red tape to turn tax-delinquent, vacant and abandoned properties back into quality homes. Some local leaders see it as a key to helping more Pittsburghers get into homeownership, as a decaying housing stock and rising prices keep young people renting later into life.
Pittsburgh created its land bank in 2014, but it didn’t process even a single property until nine years later. It wasn’t until 2023 that the city, Allegheny County and school district made an agreement to clear tax liens from transacted properties, clearing the way for a more productive operation in the last few years.
But the Cuyahoga Land Bank’s achievement towers over Pittsburgh’s like a Steelers linebacker over a hapless Browns quarterback. A report produced last year boasts that the bank facilitated just under 10,000 property demolitions since its 2009 inception, raising values by an average of $148,000 per property.
The report estimates that the land bank restored $48 million in property tax revenue that otherwise would go uncollected from previously abandoned properties.
Pittsburgh and Cleveland both have sustained major population loss since the middle of the 20th century, leading to a large number of vacant and abandoned homes. And Pittsburgh could certainly use an infusion of new property tax revenue; the city is slated to spend down much of its reserve fund as tax revenue stagnates and the county, in a similar bind, had to raise its tax rate last year.
The Cuyahoga Land Bank also renovated more than 2,600 homes in the last 15 years and oversaw the construction of 243 brand new ones, most of which became affordable homeownership opportunities.
By contrast, the Pittsburgh Land Bank completed eight sales during 2024, according to its annual report, and held 62 properties in its inventory at the end of the year. Earlier this year, Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration held a press conference this spring to mark the completion of three new homes in Hazelwood, built by the land bank and several public and private partner
Funding hampers Pittsburg
The biggest thing keeping Pittsburgh from catching Cleveland is money. Pittsburgh’s land bank has no regular funding stream. It received a one-time sum of $3 million in 2021 from the city, which has fueled its work since, but its future is unclear.
Ricardo León, the president and CEO of the Cuyahoga Land Bank, said Ohio’s legislature set up a stable flow of money to county land banks in the state. The land bank can take a cut of the late fees residents pay on delinquent property taxes, totaling between $5 million and $7 million annually, León said.
In Pennsylvania, there’s no state law designating money to land banks and the state is an uncertain partner at the moment, with a budget impasse extending over three months and no deal to prevent the collapse of public transit.
“To actually get to that scale, you need some sort of state funding,” Wilson said. “Obviously conversations with the state are quite difficult these days.”
The Cuyahoga Land Bank brings in and spends about $30 million annually. León said the delinquent tax money is supplemented by grants from nonprofits, philanthropies and the private sector.
Four years after receiving an initial $3 million from the city, the Pittsburgh Land Bank has no regular budget allocation other than funds to employ two staff members.
As for the city, Wilson is starting small with his ask: His task force wrote to the mayor requesting $1.5 million for the land bank in the 2026 city budget.
The mayor’s preliminary 2026 budget released Sept. 30 included no funds for the land bank in 2026, though Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said it included $500,000 for the effort in 2027.
“For them to not fund the land bank in 2026,” Wilson said of the administration, “I guess they just don’t believe that the land bank can spend down that money or that it should continue to grow.”
Pawlak said he was assured by the land bank that it could continue getting by on the initial 2021 grant of $3 million. Wilson disputed that, saying the only formal conversations with the mayor’s office were with the land bank funding task force, which includes members of the mayor’s office and formally requested more than $1 million for next year.
Responding to a follow-up inquiry from Public Source, Gainey’s Press Secretary Olga George acknowledged the land bank requested $1.6 million, but said the mayor “has had to make difficult decisions” and that he “carefully considered” the request.
“We could always get by and just sell less properties,” Wilson said. “But I think the goal is to provide more affordable housing, not less.”
Neighborly advice
León, who has been with the Cuyahoga Land Bank for three years and worked in community development in Cleveland before that, said the organization has had a tangible impact on the city in the 15 years since the mortgage foreclosure crisis emptied out entire swaths of neighborhoods.
“In those communities, you can see a drastic difference,” León said. “In those neighborhoods, the bulk of the demolition work has already occurred. A large chunk of the homes have been changed. There’s new construction happening that even five years ago wasn’t happening.”
He fronted advice for land banks in cities like Pittsburgh with an acknowledgement that much of their operations are only possible because of their reliable funding stream, which land banks in most other states don’t enjoy.
He said the Cuyahoga Land Bank works with Cleveland’s significant philanthropic network and receives grants from nonprofits to fund a significant portion of its programming.
“One dollar stretches way further when you have two or three other people at the table,” León said.
Pittsburgh mayors have been trying for years to lock in more financial contributions from local nonprofit organizations, with little success. Most recently, Gainey has taken a combative approach, taking legal action and receiving little in return.
León suggested resisting the urge to “spread the peanut butter evenly,” instead surging resources to the neediest areas and making significant gains there.
He also said it makes sense to take a more holistic approach than simply focusing on housing; his team supports business corridors and parks that mesh with housing development to build communities.
“The houses themselves don’t solve all the issues,” he said. Where there are housing issues, “there’s probably also a deficiency in commercial space and green space and public transportation.”
This story was originally published by Pittsburgh’s Public Source and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.