Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Council Moves to Bring Back Side Yard Sales at $1,500 for Owner-Occupants

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is bringing back a program that lets homeowners buy the vacant lot next door. City Council gave unanimous preliminary approval on Wednesday to a new version of the Side Yard Sale program, which would sell small city-owned vacant lots to the owner-occupants who live beside them for $1,500, up from about $200 under the old program. A final vote is set for next week.

What the new version changes

The old program let Pittsburgh property owners purchase adjacent city-owned lots at a steep discount, with the goal of getting vacant land off the city's plate and back on the tax rolls while giving residents green space and yards. Council voted to close it down two years ago after debating how to stop out-of-town absentee owners from snapping up lots at discount prices. Members could not agree on the limits, so they paused the program while they reworked it.

The revived version answers that fight directly. Only owner-occupants, people who own and live in the home next to the lot as their principal residence, would be eligible to buy. Lots must be 5,000 square feet or smaller to qualify, and the purchases carry deed restrictions: the land cannot be used for a residential structure, but it could hold something like a pool or a garden. The ordinance creating the program, filed as City Council File 2026-1023, writes those rules into a new Chapter 457 of the city code and provides for a neighboring owner-occupant who objects to a sale to file a competing application for the same lot.

Why the price went up

City Finance Director Jennifer Gula told council the $200 sticker price never covered what a sale actually costs. "We lost a lot of money on those sales" at the $200 price, Gula said. "So this way, at least we're breaking even." Buyers will still likely owe additional fees for deed transfer taxes and other closing costs, and Gula said the new program will include a calculator so purchasers can see the real total up front. "We had a lot of complaints from individuals purchasing property thinking they were getting something for $200 and then find out, when they close, they have to pay deed transfer tax," she said.

South Side Councilor Bob Charland sponsored the bill and said restarting the program would help districts carrying a heavy load of vacant property. "This is incredibly important for my district and for districts like mine, where we have all this vacant property that is otherwise basically unusable," Charland said. "My district is very overgrown. Any way that we can get a little bit better at the maintenance is important." Charland had originally opposed limiting the program to owner-occupants and wanted landlords included, and on Tuesday he said he would like to explore expanding it beyond owner-occupants in the future once the backlog in his district is worked through.

Councilor Deb Gross added herself as a cosponsor and called the new version a good balance, saying the program was due for an update because the city's real estate market has shifted over recent decades. Councilor Kim Salinetro, who represents the West End, said her district also holds an enormous amount of vacant property and called the program's absence last year a big loss.

If the final vote passes next week, the program returns with a higher price, a tighter buyer pool and a clearer bill at closing, aimed at the vacant lots Pittsburgh residents already mow, fence and look at every day.