Affordable-ish Housing in Pittsburgh: You can’t eat a house edition

ConsumerAffairs just ranked the 100 most populous U.S. cities “to find where homeownership is most accessible for young people,” focusing on homeownership rates and mortgage loan activity among adults under 35. “ Pittsburgh ranked #7 , jumping 23 spots since our analysis last year,” it noted. “Pittsburgh: A Fairly Affordable Place to Live (If You Consider How Bad It Is Everywhere Else)” — that’s got a nice ring to it, right? Let’s print up the T-shirts and bumper stickers! Hey, it’s better than the alternatives, which are probably: “I Get That Recessions Are Bad, But I’ll Trade One for a House” “I’d Like a House, But I Can’t Eat One, So I Guess I’ll Choose Food” “Potholes: Surprisingly Livable, If You Can Get Wi-Fi.” Anyway, it’s not all bad news! The federal government actually did something that seems like it could help, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act. It includes “provisions that promote manufactured housing (homes built in factories) and office-to-apartment conversions. It also would authorize a pilot program to offer grants and forgivable loans to fix older homes that have fallen into disrepair,” according to the CNN analysis . All good stuff. I mean, treat it the way you would when the Pirates seem to make the right move — with skepticism and a jaundiced eye towards who’s actually making money. Of course, the President refused to sign it (it passed without his signature), which seems to indicate that it might actually help people, keeping his flawless .000 batting average intact in that regard. For sale: 428 Donna St. , $315,000. Garfield. This is pretty charming, even though the sad-beige-baby aesthetic dominates the interior. Oh, is that a sliding barn door? Rustic! This home, built in 1910, comes with an ideal porch, whose pull is so strong that it makes me want to sit there and do activities like whittle things out of wood, while I tip my cap to passersby (yeah, I think I’ve probably looked at