The Pittsburgh City Council convened on December 3, 2025, to conduct rule call, receive public testimony, and deliberate on a series of supplemental papers, new papers, and resolutions across multiple standing committees. The meeting featured significant advocacy for the Housing Opportunity Fund (HOF), discussions on infrastructure maintenance and vehicle fleet management, and contentious debate regarding art allocation in the Hazelwood neighborhood and nonprofit contracting practices.
Council meetings will be live streamed on the city's website and for guest speakers. Please do not turn off your microphones. Our first order of business is rule call. Will the clerk please take the rule? Mr. Schroyland. Here. Mr. Coghill. Ms. Gross. Mr. Lavelle. Mr. Mosley. Mrs. Kale Smith. Mrs. Warwick. Here. Mr. Wilson. Mrs. Strasberger Chair. Here. Seven members present. Thank you. Our next order of business is public comment. I would like to remind all speakers that the rules of council state that comments are limited to matters of concern, official action, or deliberation, which are or may be before city council, and profanity will not be permitted. Please state your name and neighborhood for the record. You will have three minutes to speak. Our first registered speaker is Adrian Walnoha. Good morning. My name is Adrian Wanahaw. I am the acting chair of the Housing Opportunity Fund Advisory Board and a resident of the Observatory Hill neighborhood. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to make comments this morning. I have had the pleasure of serving on the HOF Advisory since its inception. My work in the housing arena and particularly around housing stability started in 1998 when I found that 80% of the individuals I was serving as a therapist had significant barriers to accessing and maintaining stable and affordable housing. Since that time in the 27 years since, the need for affordable housing creation, preservation, and housing supports has not resolved. In fact, it has gotten worse. Local state national support for affordable housing is shrinking, and inflationary costs have outpaced what we had originally and now put us at a deficit. The housing opportunity fund advisory has spent the last year deepening our understanding of the housing needs across Pittsburgh and have presented our recommendations for 2026 allocations through the fund. With these limited resources, we have been able to fund vital city-based housing supports and look to you to not only support our recommendations for 2026, but to continue your commitment to affordable housing across Pittsburgh through the Housing Opportunity Fund programs. Through these programs and the Housing Opportunity Fund program, sorry, through these programs and the housing opportunity fund funding, we will see city residents secure and maintain affordable housing, positive movement toward closing our affordable housing deficit, and we will fill gaps that no other resources have the flexibility to fill. Let's consider the demonstration program alone through the housing opportunity fund that's provided safe emergency housing opportunities for hundreds of city residents who would have otherwise been on the street, critical infrastructure improvements at Wood Street Commons, which provides accessible housing for 259 residents, and housing subsidies for dozens of individuals caught in local funding reductions who would have been on the street otherwise. Again, with funds shrinking and inflation rising, a thousand individuals experiencing homelessness, and 11,000 citizens of Allegheny County experiencing housing vulnerability. We need to preserve HOF's work. Hundreds of Pittsburghers will be supported by only one single solitary fund alone. And the housing opportunity advisory board continues its commitment to working with you to deploy the funds that were previously awarded. Work through our 2026 allocation, and we need your ongoing support.