Residential Zoning by Race:

How Pittsburgh’s Zoning Districts Promote Different Housing Options for Black and White Residents

Part 3: Current Context

by Carolyn Ristau

Current Context

Over the 100 years of zoning in Pittsburgh, zoning districts that permitted housing types with four or more units dropped from covering 74% of the city in 1927 to covering only 5% of the city in 2021. When the rest of the current zoning districts are stripped away, the location of the 5% zoned for multi-family uses suggests a strong correlation between race and the location of multi-family zoning.

The Emergence of a Pattern

There are a handful of significant clusters of multi-family zoning districts at this perspective. Two are in the Oakland, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods, areas with a high percent of university students. Three are in the Hill District, Homewood, Larimer, and Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhoods, where 80% or more of the residents are Black. The cluster south of the rivers is an area of public housing, much of which has been demolished, but what remains also has a high percentage of Black residents. Several of the smaller areas of multi-family zoning that remain are other public housing complexes.

The Factors

This pattern raises the question of what factors determined the locations where multi-family zoning districts consolidated and where single-family zoning districts grew in the city over the last 100 years. The next section will show the gap between where these districts are located and the four factors commonly discussed in the zoning field as determinants in deciding the location of zoning districts. These factors are:

  • Existing built environment

  • Proximity to other uses

  • Transportation options

  • Future land use goals

This research proposes two other factors to fill that gap. These two factors may stand on their own or may be connected to the future land use goals factor above.

  • Home Owner’s Loan Corporation’s Residential Security grading (aka “Redlining”)

  • Race

The next section takes a closer look at the Point Breeze and Homewood neighborhoods on the eastern side of Pittsburgh to illustrate how the six factors fit or don’t fit in Pittsburgh.