Pro-Housing Pittsburgh

Registered Community Organizations

Registered Community Organizations (or RCOs) are neighborhood community organizations that are registered with the Department of City Planning as stakeholders in a specific geographic area. Not all neighborhoods have an RCO, and a few have more than one. RCOs are important because they are the community organization that hosts Development Activity Meetings (DAM), which are required during the review process of any new proposed development.

• The RCO Program in Pittsburgh was introduced in 2019 with the goal of improving community stakeholder engagement and the communication flow between the City’s Planning departments, stakeholders, and development agencies. Unfortunately, many RCO’s are still not representative of the racial and economic diversity of the neighborhoods they influence. A Public Source report from January 2025 summarizes some of these issues and goes into more detail.
• You can find your local RCO on the city’s website here .
• Most likely, if you have an RCO in your community they are doing other work too. There is no standard meeting recurrence, and all RCOs are different. However, they must notify affected residents, community members and stakeholders about upcoming DAM at least 10 days prior to the meeting.
  The best way to find out about regular meetings is to contact your local RCO and ask them to add you to their mailing list.

Pittsburgh City Council

The Pittsburgh City Council is made up of nine directly-elected council members, one to represent each district of the city. Pittsburgh City Council can affect our housing policy in a few ways. They can propose, amend, and ultimately approve zoning changes. They can also amend and ultimately approve the city budget. Councilmembers can host public hearings to gather feedback. Lastly, they can hold a post-agenda hearing to audit or research more deeply an issue or topic that requires review.

• The schedule and agenda are public and can be found here. City Council typically meets twice a week, with General meetings on Tuesday and Committee meetings on Wednesday, both usually beginning at 10:00a.
  All meetings are open to the public and held at the City-County building downtown at 414 Grant St. Meetings can be livestreamed and also available to watch later on the city’s YouTube channel.
  Public comment comes first, so testifying in person or virtually doesn’t require a long time commitment.
• Public comments can be made at any of the general meetings, committee meetings, or public hearings. Public comments are not taken at special post-agenda hearings. It’s recommended that you pre-register when speaking because you’ll have more time to speak. Learn more or sign up to speak here.
  You do not have to show up in person; if you pre-register you will be sent a virtual option. Public comment comes first, so testifying in person or virtually doesn’t require a long time commitment.
  If you send your comments by email to the City Clerk, they will be shared with all Council Members. However, we recommend showing up in person or virtually, if and when you are able to, because it’s the best way to ensure you’ll be directly heard by your representative.
• Find out on the city’s website here.
• Consider contacting your council person about the issues that are most important to you! Thank them when they support issues you do, and let them know when you disagree.
• Post-agendas are aimed at hearing comments from the experts and stakeholders most directly involved in the subject being discussed. For example, author M. Nolan Gray spoke to the City Council about zoning code reform in March 2024. Public hearings are designed to hear comments from residents. Comments from the general public are not taken at Post-Agenda hearings.

Planning Commission

The Planning Commission (PC) in Pittsburgh is made up of 9 members who are appointed by the Mayor for six year staggered terms. They are responsible for guiding land use in the city and making recommendations on development proposals.

• The PC meets biweekly on Tuesday afternoons. You can find their schedule and agenda here.
• You probably wouldn’t - they’re very long and technical. Also, public comment is taken in the order of scheduled items in the agenda, at the end of presentations. This means it requires a big time commitment because you never really know what time the agenda item you want to speak on will come up.
  However, in some cases where there is strong local opposition to new housing, it can be incredibly effective to show up at PC to ensure a project moves forward.
• You do not have to show up in person or virtually; if you send your comments by email to the PC Clerk it will be shared with all members of PC. The PC will read the names of those who sent emails (not the entire statement), and your comments will be put into the public record. Unlike with city council, there is very little difference in impact from testifying in person/virtually versus sending an email.