Housing Rights

The Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance Housing Rights Working Group This working group supports the work of our regional Housing Justice Coalition Table. We aim to help expand awareness of the right to housing and how it impacts diverse neighborhoods and communities and to advance policy changes to expand access to affordable, quality housing and stable neighborhoods. This meeting will focus on planning for Fair Housing Month activities in April and ways to support rights protections for renters.

Recommended background:

• Please review our Draft Human Rights-based Housing Strategy and Action Plan for Pittsburgh, PA. This Working Group will help move these ideas into formal commitments for action by policy leaders in the city and county. Part of this involves broadening public awareness and mobilizing community group allies to understand housing as a human right and a social good and to build commitment and political will for the big changes needed to realize housing rights for everyone.
• PUSH, the documentary is a great overview of how global finance is making housing so unaffordable in cities around the world, and what people can do about it.

• The related podcast, PushBack Talks is also an excellent source of information and analysis about this complex issue.

• Biden/White House Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights (January 2023) --this "Blueprint" was issued as U.S. leaders anticipated mass evictions with the ending of COVID-19 rental assistance and eviction moratoriums. It was an inexpensive way for the federal government to appear to be taking action on this critically important problem. But we need to work to make these words meaningful in local policy.

• Alliance for a Just Philadelphia Position Paper on Rent Control -Here are ideas being put forward in Philly
• NYC Policy Brief on a Bill of Rights for Renters (NYC Office of the Comptroller, February 2020)

'Meetings All are welcome!

Next meeting: Wednesday May 15, 5:30pm on Zoom: Click here to register