State Reps. Ed Gainey and Sara Innamorato, state Sen. Jay Costa Jr. (all D-Allegheny) and Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto announced Tuesday plans for a property tax relief program for longtime residents of certain rapidly developing Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
Gainey and Innamorato are seeking co-sponsors for a bill that would allow Allegheny County to create a longtime owner occupant program (LOOP). Costa is proposing the same legislation in the state Senate.
The bills would exempt longtime homeowners in some rapidly developing neighborhoods from paying increased property taxes.
Certain Pittsburgh neighborhoods are seeing increased investment and development pressure, Gainey said, and some homeowners are at risk of being forced out of their homes due to rapid property tax increases.
“We want our neighborhoods to be better, but we don’t want to price people out,” Gainey said. “We need to make sure that as Pittsburgh rises, the people who have lived in our communities are not left behind, or removed to make way for new development. We have an affordable housing crisis in this city, and it is our moral responsibility to invest in and defend those longtime residents who have built lives in their neighborhoods.”