Why Homes Are Still Affordable in Pittsburgh—and Everything Else You Need to Know About This Week

• Pittsburgh, where a starter home is still within reach, has become America’s affordability outlier, especially compared to the coasts. Here’s how a surplus of aging housing stock, steady wages, and aggressive local policies have allowed the city to grow without torching the low cost of living that draws people in. (The Washington Post)

• Some fashion-world expats are turning to interiors, like Alan Eckstein, founder of Somerset House, a buzzy new 10,000-square-foot furniture showroom in Queens. Here’s how Eckstein, formerly a menswear designer, reinvented himself as a “Willy Wonka furniture magician.” (The New York Times)

• The DC Preservation League is suing to stop Donald Trump from giving the 137-year-old Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., its facade primarily granite, a coat of white paint, arguing that the White House can’t make changes to a historic landmark without public review. (Dezeen)

• Suisun City, a Bay Area town of 30,000 long strapped for cash, is weighing whether to annex more than 22,000 acres owned by the billionaire-backed developer California Forever to build a brand-new, walkable city. Supporters, including the mayor of Suisun, see a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” at jobs and tax revenue. But critics warn the proposal could turn a quaint waterfront town into a Silicon Valley outpost and eviscerate farmland. (The New York Times)

• Cities from Evanston to Portland are trying to quiet the annual roar of gas leaf blowers, but the push for cleaner, calmer streets has kicked up its own storm, pitting neighbors and landscapers against one another. As towns roll out bans and encourage electric blowers instead, the fight has become a litmus test for how communities navigate climate goals, class tensions, and the noisy politics of everyday life. (Bloomberg)

Top photo by Scott / 500px/ Getty Images