Council committee approves task force to study sustainable funding for Pittsburgh Land Bank

On May 29, 2025, the Intergovernmental and Educational Affairs Committee of the Pittsburgh City Council approved Bill 18-54, as amended, to establish a task force that will study and recommend options for sustainable funding of the Pittsburgh Land Bank. The bill was amended by substitution and approved with an affirmative recommendation.

Councilman Wilson, who sponsored the resolution, told the committee the task force should produce recommendations within 90 days so the council and the mayor's office could consider funding options before the next budget cycle. "We're spending so much money on demo. We're spending so much money keeping up with empty lots," Wilson said, adding the land bank is a tool the city can use to reduce blight and return property to the tax rolls.

The task force, as described by Wilson during the meeting, will include nine core seats: a chair and treasurer of the land bank, the acting director of the land bank, the chair of the Finance and Law Committee, a mayoral designee, representatives designated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and City Planning, and a designee from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The amendment also creates a mechanism for that core to invite additional participants.

Sally Stadelman, acting director of the Pittsburgh Land Bank, told council members the land bank cannot be fully self-sustaining from sales alone. She described the land bank's mission as both an affordable housing pipeline and a method to return long-vacant parcels to the tax rolls. Stadelman said many properties need upfront subsidy to make rehabilitation possible and estimated a typical processing cost of $2,500 to $5,000 per property, with some purchase-processing charges described in the discussion as up to $7,500 for lots and about $10,000 for houses in certain cases. She said the land bank currently had about 150 properties in its pipeline, with roughly 90 already in inventory.

Council members pressed on structure and safeguards. Councilwoman Kale Smith asked whether the land bank coordinates with community groups and raised concerns about transparency for property decisions in her district. Stadelman said the land bank has worked with community development corporations (CDCs) and the URA's treasurer's-sale process, and that recent practice is to identify experienced nonprofit buyers up front so properties do not stall in the pipeline.

Other council members asked whether the land bank could operate beyond affordable housing sales and bring market-rate sales into its toolbox as a revenue source; Stadelman said the next iteration of the land bank should expand sale types but cautioned it remains unlikely sales alone will fully fund operations in the near term. Councilman Charland and others framed the land bank as a long-term investment: avoiding demolition and blight can reduce future city costs and restore tax revenue.

The committee voted to amend Bill 18-54 by substitution and then approved the amended bill; council members indicated broad support for forming the task force to produce funding recommendations in 90 days.

Why this matters: The land bank holds and clears title for vacant and tax-delinquent properties and plays a central role in the city's affordable housing and neighborhood-stabilization work. The task force will recommend funding mechanisms the city could pursue to sustain the land bank after current short-term funding ends in 2026.

Next steps: The task force is to be formed under the terms of the amended resolution and return recommendations to the council and mayor's office within 90 days for potential inclusion in budget planning.