Income based apartments in Pittsburgh: how to find and apply

For income based apartments in Pittsburgh, start with the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, the city's housing authority (the local housing office). It runs public housing, the apartments it owns, and helps pay the rent in private buildings with project-based vouchers, which pay part of the rent on those apartments. In both you usually pay about 30% of your income.

What kinds of income-based apartments does Pittsburgh have?

For the first two kinds, you join the housing office's waitlists, the lists you join now for an apartment later. In a building with project-based vouchers, a private owner rents you the apartment, and the housing office pays the rest of the rent as long as you live there.

A project-based voucher lowers the rent on one apartment in a particular building while you live there. If you move out in your first year, you lose the lower rent and get nothing to take with you. After a year, you can ask the housing office for a voucher you can use at an apartment you choose; ask before you give notice.

Which Pittsburgh lists are open?

The housing office's apply page shows the public housing sites and project-based voucher buildings taking applications today, and many of the voucher buildings are for people 62 or older. Each list covers certain apartment sizes.

The Section 8 voucher list is for a voucher that pays part of the rent on an apartment you find yourself, and it opens only now and then. Check the housing office's voucher page and our Pennsylvania waitlists page for today's status.

Not every household fits every apartment size: the housing office decides by the ages, genders, relationships and number of people in your household. Call the Occupancy Department at 412-456-5030 and ask, "Which bedroom sizes can my household apply for?" before you pick lists.

What are the 2026 income limits for Pittsburgh?

An income limit is the most a household can earn and still qualify. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federal housing department, sets three for the Pittsburgh area, which includes Allegheny County. These are HUD's 2026 income limits:

Which limit counts depends on the list:

• Public housing: your household must earn under the low income limit. Each year, at least 40% of the families the housing office newly lets in must be under the extremely low limit.
• Project-based voucher buildings: the housing office uses its voucher rules. Your household usually must earn under the very low limit. A household between the very low and low limits qualifies only in a few cases, such as when it already lives in public housing or gets Section 8 rent help. Each year, at least 75% of the families the housing office newly gives vouchers to must be under the extremely low limit. So a household above that line may wait longer, and the housing office decides the order.
• Tax credit buildings: each building posts its own limits, usually 50% or 60% of the area median income, the middle income in the area. Under a federal averaging option, some set each apartment's limit anywhere from 20% to 80%.

Example. A household of three earns $42,000 a year. That is under the very low limit of $49,700 and the low limit of $79,500, so it can apply for public housing and for project-based voucher buildings. It is above the extremely low limit of $29,800, so in the voucher buildings it may wait longer than households under that limit. Our qualify check shows which listings fit your household.

How do you apply to the housing office?

1. Count your household and add up your income. Include everyone who will live with you and the yearly pay of every adult.
2. For public housing, download the pre-application from the housing office's apply page. You can't send it online. Email it to occupancy@hacp.org, fax it to 412-456-5182, or mail it or drop it off at the address the apply page gives.
3. For project-based voucher buildings, fill out the online pre-application on the housing office's applicant portal for each building you want. Your place on each list depends on the date and time the system accepts your completed form, so apply as soon as a list opens.
4. Ask for help if you need it. The Occupancy Department is at 412-456-5030. If you have a disability and need a change to the process to apply, call the Disability Compliance Office at 412-456-5282.
5. Keep your contact details current. Check your place on the list on the applicant portal or at 412-520-3848, and answer every letter by its deadline.
6. Gather your papers while you wait, such as pay stubs, benefit letters and IDs for everyone in your household; the housing office asks for them when your name comes up. A checklist of documents to gather helps.

Can you buy an affordable home in Pittsburgh?

Yes. City of Bridges Community Land Trust, a community land trust, sells homes below market price in neighborhoods such as Hazelwood, Perry Hilltop and Fineview. The trust keeps the land and you buy the house on it, so the price stays low for the next buyer too. You sign a 99-year ground lease, which means you own the home and rent the land from the trust.

The trust's steps to buy:

1. Fill out the online eligibility form. It doesn't ask for your Social Security number or check your credit.
2. Go to the trust's orientation session, held twice a month at its office.
3. Apply online with three years of tax returns, your W-2s, one month of pay stubs and statements for your bank and loan accounts.
4. Get a mortgage pre-approval from a lender that makes land trust loans; the trust can connect you with one.

Income limits apply, so ask the trust for the limit for your household size. When you sell a land trust home, a formula in your ground lease limits the price. You keep part of the rise in value, and the next buyer also gets a lower price.

How do you avoid fees and fake waitlists?

A housing office can't charge you to join its waitlist. Watch for fake waitlist announcements on social media that collect money and personal details. Before you share your Social Security number or pay anything, call the housing office at the number on its own website and ask whether the list is really open. The Federal Trade Commission warns that fake rental ads ask for wire transfers or gift cards and rush you to decide.

What should you do next?

Open the housing office's apply page, pick the lists that match your age and apartment size, and send every pre-application that fits you. See open Pittsburgh listings, including land trust homes, on our Pittsburgh page.