2 agencies solicit affordable rental housing

IN MARCH, City Council launched a plan to create new affordable housing, both in rental properties and in homeownership.

City Council President Darrell Clarke said the "2,000 New Affordable Housing Units Initiative" would address both a severe affordable-housing shortage and growing income inequality.

"Most of the units currently being built in Philadelphia are not affordable to the vast majority of residents," Clarke said March 17.

Yesterday, Clarke announced two Philadelphia housing agencies, the city's Office of Housing and Community Development and the federally funded Philadelphia Housing Authority, were issuing separate requests for proposals to obtain financing to build affordable rental housing.

The two agencies will collaborate to maximize the number of rental units developed.

The agencies will select the best projects to get financing from the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund, the federal HOME and Community Development Block Grant funds, and the Public Housing Operating Systems.

Projects selected for local funds will get the city's help applying for low-income tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

Rick Sauer, executive director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, called the collaborative effort "a refreshing step in the right direction."

Judith Robinson, a real-estate broker in North Philadelphia, said it's good to create affordable rental housing.

"But stable communities are created by homeownership," Robinson said. "I look forward to the news about proposals for homeownership units.

"As I look at all this building in the city, there is a lack of inclusion of African-American construction workers. How can they afford [any housing] if they don't have a share of the employment?"