A decade on from Penn Plaza, demonstrators call for more affordable housing in Pittsburgh

A decade on from the eviction notices that preceded the Penn Plaza public housing complex’s demolition, local organizers, elected officials, and area residents gathered in the evening heat at Enright Park to commemorate the occasion and call for more affordable housing in Pittsburgh.

Speakers included former Penn Plaza tenants and their relatives. Several said the complex’s demolition had taken a physical and mental toll on the East Liberty residents impacted. Housing justice organizers framed the demonstration as a moment for reflection — the remarks included a moment of silence for displaced and deceased Penn Plaza residents and organizers such as the late Mabel Duffy — and joyful recommitment to policy changes in the city.

“It was a great injustice,” housing justice advocate Randall Taylor, who emceed the event, said. Taylor spoke of helping relocated residents with dementia and castigated former elected officials for their inaction. “We drove housing justice to the top of the agenda in this city, and we have been hurt, and we have made progress in the last few years towards … a Pittsburgh for all. And more is coming.”

Crystal Jennings-Rivera, whose father was displaced from Penn Plaza, got emotional as she described the years of work she and others had done to find residents new homes and advocate for change. “This work was not easy. We worked hard. We worked long hours. We lost a lot of people within the time frame that we had,” Jennings-Rivera said. “To see what we have accomplished means a lot.”

Jennings-Rivera was one of several speakers who explicitly called for Pittsburgh City Council to pass citywide inclusionary zoning (IZ). The proposal has been a contentious topic in local meetings and hasn’t advanced in council despite the Pittsburgh Planning Commission’s January recommendation of the bill.

Pittsburgh City Councilor Khari Mosley called Penn Plaza “sacred ground” for being the birthplace of Pittsburgh’s housing justice movement. “That movement reverberated to every corner of the city. It woke up hundreds of thousands of people to understand how important this issue of housing is,” he said. “Most of my life, there was always this idea that, ‘oh, Pittsburgh, it’s a city where housing is easy, housing is cheap.’ Anybody remember those days?” “We have an opportunity to pass [IZ] legislation that not only grows the population and grows the city and grows the city’s economy, but also lifts those up who’ve been left behind for too long,” Mosley added.

Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross, Mayor Ed Gainey, and Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak were also in attendance. Mosley said councilor Erika Strassburger had also supported the IZ bill.

Several at the demonstration brought handmade signs, including one referencing the controversy around Alisha B. Wormsley’s contribution to The Last Billboard art installation reading “There are black people in the future.” Residents took over one lane of traffic for a circle around the block and chanted outside of the LG Realty Advisors-developed Whole Foods complex now occupying part of the Penn Place site.

East Liberty resident O’Harold Hoots, who returned to the neighborhood after being displaced and forced to move three times, said he was “elated” to be back, but that it wasn’t a time for celebration. “It was such an injustice,” Hoots said. “There were so many people who were evicted from their homes, and it took us a long time to get back.”

Sims, Taylor, and others called for Pittsburgh to build more public housing and noted the Penn Plaza lot’s ongoing vacancy. As demonstrators spoke, rabbits hopped among overgrown weeds on the fenced-off block.

Taylor framed the Monday evening gathering as the first of several in a yearlong lineup of events around housing justice. Organizers distributed leaflets announcing another evening rally at Enright Park Aug. 7, and Taylor said a November housing justice symposium would feature keynote speaker Edward Goetz, author of New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy. Others with the Housing Justice Table pledged ongoing action in support of a tenants’ bill of rights, citywide IZ, and new public housing.

“The church that we met in, the Lutheran church, is now torn down,” organizer LaShawn McBride said. “The things that are all around us is now torn down, but the hearts and the people are not torn down. We won’t give up.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Jenkins-Rivera’s family member who was displaced. The error has been corrected above.

This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2025.