Urban Redevelopment Authority To Vote On Investing $4M In Affordable Housing
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Urban Redevelopment Authority's Board of Directors will be voting on whether to invest more than $4 million to help fund affordable housing projects in several Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
The money would come from the city's Housing Opportunity Fund, which provides $10 million a year for affordable housing programs.
The proposed housing projects would be built in Marshall-Shadeland, Hazelwood, Fineview and several other neighborhoods.
According to the city, the proposed financing includes:
• Over $852,000 total to the Brightwood Civic Group's two-phased Woodland Avenue Revitalization Project intended to increase homeownership and stabilize housing values in the Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood. The project to date has sold seven rehabilitated homes to buyers at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI).
• $300,000 to the Hazelwood Initiative for the Hazelwood Affordable Homeownership Program (HAHOP) which provides quality affordable for-sale houses to long time renters in the neighborhood to support their mission of "development without displacement." The program has already sold six homes.
• Over $112,000 to the Fineview Citizens Council to renovate a single rental unit to be rented to a household at or below 60% AMI.
• $200,000 to Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation for their "Rehab for Resale" program to develop five affordable housing units to sell in neighborhoods with affordable housing scarcity.
• Increase in Homeowner Assistance Program funding for a total of $950,00 to the Hilltop Alliance, a community development corporation servicing the Hilltop neighborhoods of Allentown, Arlington, Arlington Heights, Beltzhoover, Bon Air, Carrick, Knoxville, Mount Washington, Mount Oliver, Saint Clair and South Side Slopes; $600,000 to Rebuilding Together that provides critical home repairs and improvements for low-income households; and $685,000 to Low Country Building Solutions a Minority-Women-Owned Business Enterprise that performs repairs for the Homeowner Assistance Program citywide.
The board is expected to discuss and vote on the proposal at its next, virtual meeting on Thursday.
