City Living, Family Style 
By Katherine Camp

Iris Winter and Manuel Zuniga had never been to Pittsburgh when they decided to attend Duquesne University's graduate program in Social and Public Policy following their Peace Corps service in South Africa. The first place they found to live was an apartment in Squirrel Hill. They loved the neighborhood, with its shops, movie theaters and convenient bus routes, and they stayed there for the next six years.

When the couple decided they wanted to purchase a home, they looked in Squirrel Hill, but the houses they saw were out of their price range. Although they wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, their realtor encouraged them to look outside the city for more affordable property. They came close to purchasing a home in the suburb of Swissvale. When that deal did not work out, they turned to the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development and local community development groups to see what was available. They heard about new modular homes being built in Oakland by the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC).

At the time, in March 2006, OPDC had not started building the houses yet, but Winter and Zuniga were able to look at the designs and floor plans on OPDC's website, and they liked what they saw. They worked directly with Kelly Hoffman, a certified real estate agent at OPDC. The first step was confirming that the family qualified for a deferred second mortgage from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which brought the mortgage payments in line with what they could afford. The house was in place and ready for them to move in by October 2006.

Winter is happy about the way things worked out. "There's a lot more going on here. Before we had a baby, we took advantage of the cultural resources in the city--the theater, the Arts Festival, concerts--and we hope to start doing that again soon. People in the suburbs have to drive an hour, but we can just take the bus." Now, Winter is busy taking care of their two-year-old son, Andres, and preparing for a second child. Zuniga has an easy bike commute to his work downtown for the Human Rights Commission as a state civil rights investigator.

"We were looking for city amenities, like a short commute and access to the school system, and Oakland seemed like a great place for our young family," Zuniga said. Winter agreed. "There's a whole bunch of stuff for kids in the city," she said. "The library has story time; the local orchestra does concerts for kids. Our son can choose a school based on his interests as they develop. And the free Pre-K that the city offers is great. He could even go to Pre-K at the Children's Museum. How cool is that?"

It hasn't all been perfect. Along with seven of their neighbors, they had to deal with a sewer overflow into their basement during a huge rainstorm recently. The safety of the neighborhood is also a concern for them. An alarm and metal door screens help them feel more secure, and they attend community meetings sponsored by the police department.

Zuniga feels that the benefits far outweigh the costs. "Having a young child, we wanted to set down a good foundation. Oakland is the third largest business district in the state, so as the city turns around, Oakland is the place to be in the long term. OPDC's mission to develop the neighborhood and encourage a balance between rentals and homeowners was something we wanted to support," he said. "It's a good place to live, we're really happy with it," Winter said.