Police surveillance tech, short-term rental regulations and extending tax breaks for affordable senior housing

This Week’s Top Agenda Items

• Pittsburgh police have quietly used cell phone surveillance software for seven years
• Short-term rental regulations move forward after mass shooting at Airbnb on New Year's Day
• City to extend tax break for affordable senior housing

Pittsburgh police have quietly used cell phone surveillance software for seven years

For seven years, Pittsburgh police have contracted with a service that offers continuous surveillance.

Pittsburgh City Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park flagged a $2,754 invoice for LeadsOnline’s CellHawk software during a Feb. 12 committee meeting. 

CellHawk acts as a continuous surveillance system. It collects data beyond what’s typically supplied from a mobile carrier in response to a subpoena, according to a 2020 investigation by The Intercept. This includes lists of all phones connected to a cell tower, GPS data, and interpersonal connections.

According to Gross’s conversation with the administration, the police department only requests information from LeadsOnline with a search warrant.

“It means that our policies and our legislation need to be better in order to protect our citizens’ right to privacy,” she said, and “to prevent them from being subjected, even unintentionally by us, to surveillance and surveillance technologies.”

While council makes procurement card purchase details available to the public, it does not do the same for invoices, even though it votes on both. The contract with Leads also does not appear to be available through the legislative website, OpenBook Pittsburgh, or the Beacon portal.

This isn’t the city’s first contract with LeadsOnline. According to documentation available in OpenBook, it appears the city terminated a $397,000, three-year contract for stolen property tracking software in 2023—less than four months after it began.

Short-term rental regulations move forward after mass shooting at Airbnb on New Year's Day 🔗 🔗

Short-term rentals are a problem in the city.

Last month, Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park reintroduced two bills from last year to begin regulating short-term rentals available from websites such as Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com.

One is to change related zoning laws and the other would require out-of-town property owners to receive an operating permit. According to Gross, local operators who rent one or two properties will not be required to have a permit. 

She said at the Feb. 11 meeting of council committees that last year’s research showed that approximately 3,000 properties in the city are available for short-term rental. Approximately half of operators only have two properties or fewer.

Permits for larger-scale renting will be similar to those required for Bed and Breakfast operators in residential areas. 

Council Member Bobby Wilson of Spring Hill represents the North Side where two shootings have taken place in Airbnbs (Spring 2022 and Jan. 1, 2026). “It’s very unfortunate that this conversation had to be put back on the table because of this mass shooting,” he said. 

Wilson added that hotel chains such as Marriott are also operating short-term housing rentals in the city. 

Council voted to refer the zoning bill to the Planning Commission. It will take at least 12 weeks—after the NFL Draft—to move through the remainder of the process. The licensing bill will be held until then.

City to extend tax break for affordable senior housing 🔗 🔗 🔗

The Department of Finance requested to extend three cooperative agreements with NCSC/USA Housing Development Corporation.

The Louisiana-based company owns three affordable high-rise apartment buildings for seniors which are located in Perry South, Brighton Heights and Lawrenceville. The 20-year agreements with the city, school district and county have allowed the NCSC/USA to make set payments in lieu of property taxes. It wants to extend its agreements for another 10 years.

The annual payment for each building ($145-$155) is calculated as if paying taxes on a property assessed between $15,000-16,000. The housing authority has a similar agreement with the city for the properties it owns. 

The three buildings are actually assessed by the county at a combined $14.45 million, which would garner the city nearly $140,000 if taxed at the market value.

According to Director of Finance Jen Gula at the Feb. 11 meeting with members of council, not extending the agreements would result in zero income from the property owner since the buildings are operated as nonprofits and exempt from taxes. 

Gula said that the city’s solicitor and the school district have agreed to the payment plan. She did not know the county’s stance. 

Council Member Deb Gross of Highland Park, who represents Lawrenceville, expressed concern that the request did not include details about the original or extended agreements and that approving the legislation would give the department the ability to negotiate terms without council oversight.

The original contract does not appear to be available through the city’s two public portals.

Council voted to move the legislation forward.