Steel City Cooperative Housing

Steel City Cooperative Housing Initiative

The Steel City Housing Cooperative Initiative (SCCHI) facilitates and supports the development and operation of housing cooperatives in Pittsburgh. Its mission is to expand non-market, permanently affordable housing options for Pittsburgh residents through education, training, and project planning services that promote and support resilient, self-governing housing cooperatives throughout the city. In order to help remedy past harms caused by mass displacement, it gives particular attention to neighborhoods that have been subject to disinvestment and discrimination. While historically marginalized communities are a primary constituency, the SCCHI supports all cooperative housing initiatives that increase housing access and affordability in the region. Special attention is given to efforts to build cooperative structures that expand family housing, support diverse communities, and address a variety of community needs through mutual assistance, planning for future generations, and attention to climate resilience.

We are currently in our launching/organizing phase and are working to develop this webiste. Watch for more news and resources!

Organizing Committee

• Andrea Boykowycz, Executive Director, Oakland Planning and Community Development Corporation
• Robert Damewood, Regional Housing Legal Services
• Sabina Deitrick, University of Pittsburgh University Center for Social & Urban Research, & former member of City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission
• Deborah Gross, Pittsburgh City Council Member
• Carol Hardeman, Executive Director, Hill District Consensus Group
• Crystal Jennings-Rivera, City of Bridges CLT
• Bryan Matheiu, PNC Bank
• Alex Payton, Director of Operations and Technology, The Kingsley Association
• Carl Redwood, Hill District Consensus Group, Black Workers Center
• Jackie Smith, Human Rights City Alliance
• Rick Swartz, Bloomfield/Garfield Corporation
• Randall Taylor, Organizer, Penn Plaza Support & Action Coalition & Human Rights City Alliance
• LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director, Ujamaa Collective, Board Member, Hill District Federal Credit Union, Co-founder, National Association of Black Cooperators