Phila. affordable-housing projects get $844K

Four new affordable-housing projects in Philadelphia were awarded a total of $844,176 in grants today from the Federal Home Loan Bank in Pittsburgh.

Each year, FHLBank, a wholesale cooperative established by Congress in 1932, devotes 10 percent of its earnings to its Affordable Housing Program. This year, a total of $3.4 million in grants will help support 17 projects in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, spokesman Neil Cotiaux said.

Member institutions Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, PNC Bank and Sovereign Bank helped the nonprofit sponsors of the Philadelphia housing projects that were selected for funding develop their grant application. They will serve as the local conduits of the FHLBank grants.

The new housing will be for seniors, the homeless, people recovering from substance abuse, and women transitioning from prison.

The recipients were:

A Place for New Directions for Women, 36 units, $250,000.

Fattah Homes II, 6 units, $94,176.

Gaudenzia Thompson Street Apartments, 6 units, $250,000.

Sartain Apartments, 35 units, $250,000.    - Diane Mastrull