Mayor Ed Gainey touts accomplishments in affordable housing, but the numbers tell another story
While the mayor said his efforts have been a great success, critics have responded, saying he has fallen far short of his goal of making housing more affordable.
It's the cornerstone of his administration, to keep and grow the city's working class by creating more affordable housing. On the campaign trail, Mayor Gainey has touted this effort as his crowning achievement.
"We built more affordable housing than any administration in the past 20 years," Gainey said. "We've built over 2,000 units, either built or in the pipeline of affordable housing. That's incredible all by itself."
However, his critics call that his administration's biggest failure.
"They have not lived up to their promise of creating housing affordability," said David Vatz of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh. "Some of the claims that they've made about 2,000 units, we have not been able to validate those claims."
Officially, the administration said it has "created or preserved" 1,400 units of affordable housing but conceded that only about 400 of those are actual, new construction. Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said the city has reinvested in 968 existing units and extended their affordability protections, which were set to expire.
"That's 968 units with people living in them today, which could have disappeared and dramatically increased the affordability change," Pawlak said.
The non-profit group, Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, puts the number of newly created units at 300, but said even the administration's own numbers are underwhelming, especially since the city has dedicated so much money to affordable housing.
To date, the city has received $36 million from the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan, $34 million in an affordable housing bond issue, and about $30 million in the city's Housing Opportunity Fund, totaling $100 million in all.
"You would expect with that amount of investment, you would have seen a significant amount of affordable housing and that's not what we've seen," Vatz said.
Instead, according to Vatz, the city has blocked several market-rate housing projects by requiring that 10% of the units be affordable while not providing the developers andy support or incentives to include them. He said the lack of all housing development across the city has jacked up the price of rent.
"It's what we've seen over the last three years of his administration," Vatz said. "Housing costs have gone up and up and up, and at the same time, his administration has been hostile to development."
"There are thousands more units on the table," Deputy Mayor Pawlak said.
Pawlak pointed to several projects on the drawing board and those under construction, like the new Bedford Dwelling and City' Edge in the Hill District, saying that they will dramatically bolster affordability numbers.
While developers continue to complain that affordability requirements have stymied several market-rate projects, some, including the conversion of some downtown office buildings to residential, are finally getting off the dime through negotiations with the city to include affordable units.
"It's easy to get a cheap, superficial win that doesn't get the job done," Pawlak said. "We haven't taken that approach. We've put the time and effort into getting the job done right and sometimes that takes more time."
Still, by any accounting, the administration is still far below its stated goal of adding some 8,000 units of affordable housing, and while the city continues to lose jobs and people, developers complain that there are too many hoops to jump through to put shovels in the ground.
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The Hill
27 minutes ago
- The Hill
Generational cracks on Israel grow on the right
The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. Sign up here or in the box below. Dramatic shifts in public opinion on Israel that have emerged as the war in Gaza drags on are not just affecting the left side of the political spectrum. Cracks are propagating in a Republican Party and right wing that have been historically supportive of the country. Skepticism of Israel from younger Republicans is increasing as the party debates the meaning of 'America First,' a dynamic that's being reflected on some of the biggest conservative stages and megaphones even as other Republicans double down on their Israel support. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is going further than even many of her progressive colleagues in accusing Israel of 'genocide' in Gaza. Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth group in the country, hosted a major debate at its summer conference on how much support the U.S. should give Israel — with attendees cheering both sides. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has often been the sole GOP vote against pro-Israel measures in the House as he takes a staunch noninterventionist stance on foreign policy, told me he senses a shift on the right. 'I think people are being more vocal now,' Massie said. 'They're probably saying things they thought before but were afraid to say, and now that more people are saying them, it's sort of a cascade effect.' Massie said he's seen that change in support for Israel reflected in internal polls in his district that he's conducted for the last decade. Public surveys show the same thing. A March Pew poll found that 53 percent of surveyed U.S. adults had an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 42 percent in 2022. That negative view is most pronounced among Democratic adults, whose unfavorable views of Israel went up to 69 percent — a dynamic that is dramatically reshaping how Democratic lawmakers are approaching Israel. But there was also a stark shift among Republicans under the age of 50, whose unfavorable views of Israel shot up from 35 percent in 2022 to 50 percent in 2025. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who is Jewish and is one of the most vocal defenders of Israel in Congress, said the increasing skepticism of Israel among younger Republicans is due to 'Muslim propaganda.' 'Conservatives generally have a big heart, so those things are going to have some impact on public polling,' Fine told me in a phone interview, going on to deny widespread reports of starvation in Gaza. 'The only people starving in Gaza are the hostages.' The division, though, is not yet large enough to challenge the overwhelming Republican support for Israel. Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said that aside from Massie and Greene, Republicans on Capitol Hill have remained 'extremely strong on Israel' and argued that President Trump has been 'stronger on Israel than any president we've ever had.' The Trump administration has notably cited antisemitism on college campuses amid protests of Israel as a basis for cracking down on colleges and universities. A large bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers traveled to Israel with the American Israel Education Foundation, a group affiliated with the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also traveled to Israel this month. AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann sent me this comment: 'Reps. Greene and Massie's views and votes on Israel are more aligned with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [D-N.Y.], Rashida Tlaib [D-Mich.] and Ilhan Omar [D-Minn.] than any of their Republican House colleagues, who overwhelmingly stand with the Jewish state. Only a few weeks ago, the House resoundingly rejected an anti-Israel amendment offered by Rep. Greene by a vote of 422-6. These extremists are in a distinct minority because they would betray an American ally that shares our values and interests.' Massie and Greene have largely argued against U.S. support for Israel from a noninterventionist, 'America First' perspective. 'They're not a poor country. They don't need our handouts,' Massie said. 'I've been making the economic case, and recently started making the moral case that we shouldn't be sending them the money because their bombing of Gaza's led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths.' Asked about that interpretation of 'America First,' Fine pointed to the hundreds of thousands of American citizens who live in Israel. 'Saying that they should all die doesn't sound like a very America First position.' A chunk of the anti-Israel messages circulating in right-wing circles online are clearly antisemitic — a charge that has also been lobbed at elected Republican critics of Israel. 'I always say, neither party has a monopoly on antisemitism,' Fine said of criticism of Israel from within the GOP. 'I think their voices have been amplified in recent months. But you know, for every one elected Republican antisemite, there are hundreds who stand with Israel.' Massie said of the antisemitism attacks: 'I think they're wearing the word out. … It's ridiculous that you would say somebody's antisemitic based on a vote on legislation.' Still, the Kentucky congressman doesn't expect to see many other elected Republicans to pipe up with Israel criticism. 'Everybody else is still afraid of, basically, Trump and AIPAC,' Massie said. In case you missed it, I chatted with Greene about her decision to dub Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide earlier this month. Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ Not already on the list? Subscribe here FROM BANNON GUEST TO BLS PICK President Trump's nomination of Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — coming after Trump fired the agency's previous head after accusing her of rigging jobs numbers — is kicking off widespread skepticism and concerns about politicization of critical data that will define Antoni's upcoming Senate confirmation. Antoni is largely a product of the conservative movement. Before Heritage, he was an economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the major conservative think tank in the state that also produced now-Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. His profile on the site boasts of his work being featured in a litany of conservative outlets and organizations. One of Antoni's most notable boosters was Steve Bannon, the former senior adviser to Trump who has maintained a prominent perch on the right through his ' War Room ' show. Antoni had appeared on Bannon's show. But the selection of the ideological Antoni — and some of his suggestions for the agency — have raised eyebrows. Antoni told Fox News before his nomination that 'the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly jobs reports, but keep publishing more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data,' since BLS data is often subject to revision. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later told Bloomberg TV that he did not support the idea of suspending the monthly job reports, while defending Antoni's qualifications. 'I was there when E.J. was interviewed, and he is incredibly qualified,' Bessent said. 'I think the most important thing here is that we get back to the integrity of the numbers, because it just became OK — just like so many things in our government — for it to get sloppy.' Go in depth on Antoni: Trump stuns Wall Street, Washington with controversial BLS nominee, from my colleague Tobias Burns … 'Underlying motives': Why Trump's BLS pick is in for a fight, from Politico's Nick Niedzwiadek and Sam Sutton … The Partisan Economist Trump Wants to Oversee the Nation's Data, from The Wall Street Journal's Paul Kiernan. EARMARKS BATTLE SET TO HEAT UP With the Sept. 30 government funding deadline rapidly approaching, get ready for a big internal GOP battle over earmarks — or community project finding, as they're known in their newest form — when Congress returns. 'The return of earmarks to the annual appropriations bills has sparked a battle among Republicans on Capitol Hill, pitting fiscal hawks against members of the Appropriations Committees and their allies,' my colleague Alex Bolton reports. The dynamic is set to complicate Republicans' path to avoiding a government shutdown, which is already tricky given they will need Democratic support in the Senate to do so. Republican appropriators and beyond are working hard to try to steer funding to their home states, but that is set to clash with fiscal hawks who balk at any increased government spending — a sentiment that has become a core part of the GOP. ON MY CALENDAR Thursday, Aug. 21: The American Enterprise Institute hosts an event on 'The Power of Presence: Sustaining Progress in Reducing Chronic Absenteeism' at 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25, to Thursday, Aug. 28: State Policy Network annual meeting in New Orleans. THREE MORE THINGS Last week in The Movement, I wrote about whether Trump's takeover of D.C. police could lead to conservatives getting more interested in cities they have historically loved to hate. Jack Posobiec, activist and editor at Human Events, had an interesting take separating conservatives into two camps, 'ruralcon' and 'citycon.' 'For decades, the American Right has been dominated by the image of the rural conservative — the pickup-driving, small-town patriot with deep roots in red-state soil. You can't help but love this guy,' he wrote. 'But there's a new archetype emerging on the New Right: the citycon — the disaffected conservative trapped behind enemy lines in a blue-state metropolis.' Right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer had a deposition as part of her defamation lawsuit against comedian Bill Maher that was ' uncomfortably revealing,' as The Bulwark's Will Sommer put it, with NSFW 'did-she-really-say-that' digs at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Are the Epstein files finally coming? House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said the Department of Justice will start turning over documents related to its investigation of the sex offender on Friday — a few days later than the Tuesday deadline set in the panel's subpoena that it issued pursuant to a Democratic-led motion in a subcommittee last month. WHAT I'M READING
an hour ago
What to know about Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula seized by Russia from Ukraine over a decade ago
Russia's illegal seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014 was quick and bloodless, and it sent Moscow's relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War. It also paved the way for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which Moscow illegally annexed more land from its neighbor. A look at the diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea, coveted by both Russia and Ukraine for its naval bases and beaches: In 2013-14, a massive popular uprising gripped Ukraine for weeks, eventually forcing pro-Moscow President Victor Yanukovych from office. Amid the turmoil, Russian President Vladimir Putin pounced, sending armed troops without insignia to overrun Crimea. Putin later called a referendum in Crimea to join Russia that Ukraine and the West dismissed as illegal. Russia's relations with the West plummeted to new lows. The United States, the European Union and other countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and its officials. Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2014, was recognized only by countries such as North Korea and Sudan. In Russia, it touched off a wave of patriotism, and 'Krym nash!' — 'Crimea is ours!' — became a rallying cry. The move sent Putin's popularity soaring. His approval rating, which had declined to 65% in January 2014, shot to 86% in June, according to the Levada Center, an independent Russian pollster. Putin has called the peninsula 'a sacred place' and has prosecuted those who publicly argue it is part of Ukraine — particularly the Crimean Tatars, who strongly opposed the annexation. After the annexation, fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine between pro-Kremlin militias and Kyiv's forces. Moscow threw its weight behind the insurgents, even though it denied supporting them with troops and weapons. There was abundant evidence to the contrary, including a Dutch court's finding that a Russia-supplied air defense system shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people aboard. Russian hard-liners later criticized Putin for failing to capture all of Ukraine that year, arguing it was easily possible at a time when the government in Kyiv was in disarray and its military in shambles. The fighting in eastern Ukraine continued, on and off, until February 2022, when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Crimea's unique location makes it a strategically important asset, and Russia has spent centuries fighting for it. The peninsula was home to Turkic-speaking Tatars when the Russian empire first annexed it in the 18th century. It briefly regained independence two centuries later before being swallowed by the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when both were part of the USSR, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the unification of Moscow and Kyiv. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the peninsula became part of newly independent Ukraine. Russia kept a foot in the door, however: Its Black Sea Fleet had a base in the city of Sevastopol, and Crimea — as part of Ukraine — continued to host it. By the time Russia annexed it in 2014, it had been within Ukraine for 60 years and was part of the country's identity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to retake it and said Russia 'won't be able to steal' the peninsula. For either side, possession of Crimea is key to control over activities in the Black Sea — a critical corridor for the world's grain, among other goods. Ahead of its full-scale invasion, Moscow deployed troops and weapons to Crimea, allowing Russian forces to quickly seize large parts of southern Ukraine early in the war. A top Russian military official later said that securing a land corridor from Russia to Crimea by holding the occupied parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions was among the key goals of what the Kremlin called its 'special military operation' in Ukraine. Before the invasion, Zelenskyy focused on diplomatic efforts to get Crimea back, but after Russian troops poured across the border, Kyiv began publicly contemplating retaking the peninsula by force. The peninsula soon became a battleground, with Ukraine launching drone attacks and bombing it to try to dislodge Moscow's hold on the territory. The attacks targeted the Russian Black Sea Fleet there, as well as ammunition depots, air fields and Putin's prized asset — the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to Russia, which was struck in October 2022, in July 2023 and in June 2025. Putin listed Ukraine's recognition of Crimea as part of Russia among Moscow's demands for peace in 2024. Those also include Ukraine ceding the four regions illegally annexed by Russia in 2022, dropping its bid to join NATO, keeping the country's nonnuclear status, restricting its military force and protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population. Kyiv has rejected ceding any territory.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Joy Reid claims 'mediocre White men' like Trump, Elvis can't 'invent anything,' steal culture from other races
Former MSNBC anchor Joy Reid condemned President Donald Trump, Elvis Presley and others on Friday as some of history's many "mediocre White men" whose achievements are stolen or counterfeit. Reid criticized Trump's review of the Smithsonian during an interview with Wajahat Ali for his "The Left Hook" substack, in an episode titled, "How Mediocre White Men and Their Fragility Are Destroying America." They argued that across America's institutions, there is a phenomenon of "mediocre White men" with no actual culture of their own who co-opt the achievements of Black people to aggrandize themselves. Ali opened the episode by talking about Trump reforming the Kennedy Center in what his critics call a hostile takeover. The institution, which in recent years had featured drag queen performances, is now being reformed to show decidedly more conservative and pro-American content. Trump announced this year's Kennedy Center awards last week, which he will also be hosting. "These people cannot create culture on their own," Ali said. "Without Black people, Brown people, the DEIs, there's no culture in America. We make the food better. We make the economy better. We make the music better. Right? MAGA can't create culture. They got Cracker Barrel and Kid Rock." Reid and Ali claimed that White conservatives practice their own variant of outrage culture where they complain about what they say. "They don't have the intellectual rigor to actually argue or debate with us, right? And what they do is they tattle and tell. They run and tell teacher that 'the Black lady or the Brown man was mean to me.' And that's what they always do," Reid said. Reid, who initially wore a hat dedicated to the historically debatable 1619 Project, then changed to one with the letters "FDT," took special umbrage at Trump's efforts to review the Smithsonian's historical exhibits ahead of America's 250th anniversary. "They can't fix the history they did. Their ancestors made this country into a slave — a slave hell, but they can clean it up now because they got the Smithsonian. They can get rid of all the slavery stuff," she said. "They got PragerU that can lie about the history to the children. They can't originally invent anything more than they ever were able to invent good music. "We Black folk gave y'all country music, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, rock and roll. They couldn't even invent that, but they have to call a White man 'The King.' Because they couldn't make rock and roll, so they have to stamp 'The King' on a man whose main song was stolen from an overweight Black woman," Reid continued. Reid was referring to "The King" Elvis Presley singing "Hound Dog," which was first recorded by Big Mama Thornton, a Black blues singer, and written by two Jewish-American songwriters. Elvis' version, which was more upbeat, with a faster rock-and-roll rhythm and slightly altered lyrics, boosted his rise to fame in 1956 after his previous breakout hit, "Heartbreak Hotel" earlier that year. Elvis helped pioneer the Rockabilly (a portmanteau of "Rock & Roll" and "Hillbilly") sub-genre of Rock & Roll, one that was a mix of country music and rhythm & blues, and had been candid throughout his career about his influences from Black American music. White House spokesman Harrison Fields responded to Reid's comments saying she was "too unhinged for MSNBC." "Joyless Reid is an ungrateful hack who fails to acknowledge her privilege. Whatever remains of her success would only be possible in the United States of America, the same country she degrades for sport. She was too unhinged for MSNBC and was fired. Instead of changing her act, she's doubled down on stupid," he said. Fox News Digital reached out to PragerU and did not receive an immediate reply.
