Affordable Housing Opportunities in Communities

Approved for 1.25 CM credits

About half a million families in Pennsylvania lack access to safe, affordable housing.

The need for affordable housing has long-term economic impacts, making it difficult for some employers to find employees or forcing minimum wage workers to have long commutes to jobs in communities they can’t afford to live. It also forces seniors into deciding whether they can afford food, medicine or shelter.

The Clarion County Housing Authority and their non-profit, Clarion County Housing and Community Development Corporation (CDC) collaborated with a local bank to obtain two foreclosed properties in order to rehabilitate and rent to low income households.  The rehabilitation process resulted in the transformation of two blighted structures to homes made available to homeless families through a collaboration with Community Action and Children and Youth Services. 

The process of identifying the needs of the community, partnerships with local banks, the Federal Home Loan Bank application, the Affordable Housing Grant process and implementation and finally the collaboration for ongoing services in the community will be discussed.

The Housing Authority of the County of Dauphin is focused on the increase of affordable housing units in the County.  In the current financing environment, one way to develop new affordable housing is through the tax credit program at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).  Critical planning steps include land acquisition, zoning code compliance and finance package. For Cherry Orchard Place we were successful in applying for funds to develop 49 units of affordable senior housing in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County.

This webinar will discuss the review of zoning to allow for the most budget conscious development as well as the critical steps to make an organization a player in the PHFA tax credit world as well as partnership options that contributed to more affordable housing development.

Register Here: https://extension.psu.edu/land-use-webinar

For more information contact Peter Wulfhorst (ptw3@psu.edu or 570-296-3400 ext. 1445)