Government Wage Mandate Squeezes Low-Income Homebuyers

In an attempt to revitalize some of Pittsburgh’s declining neighborhoods, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), in conjunction with neighborhood community organizations are embarking on a project to put homes for low-income buyers on the City’s vacant lots. The problem is that the prices for these new subsidized houses are much higher than prices of existing neighborhood houses and as a result, many of these new homes are unsellable and sit vacant. A major culprit for the higher prices is the government mandate known as ‘prevailing wage’. Continue