ICYMI: Rep. Summer Lee Celebrates Grand Opening of Uptown Flats, Bringing 34 New Affordable Homes to Pittsburgh
Two years after joining community partners to break ground, Rep. Lee returns to celebrate completion of new permanent supportive housing in Uptown
PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 23, 2026 — Yesterday, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12) joined Bethlehem Haven, ACTION-Housing, Pittsburgh Mercy, local elected officials, housing advocates, community partners, and residents to celebrate the grand opening of Uptown Flats, a new 34-unit affordable permanent supportive housing community in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood.
Previously, Rep. Lee joined project partners for the groundbreaking of Uptown Flats in October 2024 and returned Tuesday as the nearly decade-long effort officially welcomed residents home.
“Today, we get to celebrate 34 new homes, 34 new beginnings, and one more example of what Western Pennsylvania can build when we put people first,” said Rep. Lee. “For someone coming out of homelessness, or a senior, veteran, or person with a disability who has spent too long wondering where they are going to lay their head at night, this kind of stability can mean the difference between surviving and finally having some room to breathe. Housing is a human right, and Uptown Flats shows us what that can actually look like in practice.”
Developed through a partnership between Bethlehem Haven and ACTION-Housing, Uptown Flats includes 11 studio apartments, 16 one-bedroom apartments, and seven two-bedroom apartments designed to provide safe, stable housing for people exiting homelessness and residents with disabilities and other special needs. All 34 apartments receive Project-Based Section 8 rental assistance, helping ensure residents can afford their homes based on their income. The development also provides accessible units, community spaces, and on-site supportive services to help residents build long-term stability.
The more than $22 million development brought together federal, state, county, city, nonprofit, and private investment, including federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and HOME-ARP funding. The development sits along Pittsburgh’s Bus Rapid Transit corridor and includes accessible housing designed for residents with mobility, hearing, and visual disabilities.
Rep. Lee has made expanding access to safe, affordable housing a central part of her work in Congress. Earlier this year, she secured $3 million to help Allegheny County create affordable rental homes dedicated to people exiting homelessness and delivered another $1 million to help convert vacant Downtown Pittsburgh office space into affordable housing. Last year, Rep. Lee also joined Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato to celebrate the “500 in 500” initiative, which helped house more than 600 people experiencing homelessness and identified hundreds of affordable housing units across the county.
In Congress, Rep. Lee helped reintroduce the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act to curb large institutional investors’ ability to use taxpayer subsidies to buy up single-family homes and the HOMES Act to restrict tax breaks for large corporate investors purchasing local housing. Her affordable housing agenda also includes expanding federal rental assistance, strengthening tenant protections, preserving affordable housing, and preventing displacement and homelessness.
Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Judiciary and the Committee on Education and Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.7 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 4,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.