Congressman Fattah Awards $844,000 in Affordable Housing Grants: Gaudenzia, NewCourtland, New Directions for Women and PEC receive funding
Philadelphia, PA – November 24, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Chaka Fattah (PA-02) today announced the awarding of $844,176 in grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLBank) to four new affordable housing projects in the city.
The grants, made under FHLBank’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP), will help provide much-needed housing to seniors, the homeless, individuals recovering from substance abuse and women who are transitioning to the community from prison. Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, PNC Bank and Sovereign Bank championed the projects announced today and will deliver the grants to the sponsors.
Today’s grants are the first to be made in Philadelphia as part of the 20th Anniversary celebration of AHP, created by Congress in August of 1989 to expand the supply of rental and for-purchase housing to lower-income individuals and families through the nation’s twelve FHLBanks. The Banks are private cooperatives owned by local lenders that use private, not taxpayer funds, in support of their mission of housing finance and community and economic development.
“This is a wonderful milestone for FHLBank, and more importantly, for the communities it has served during the last 20 years,” said Congressman Fattah, who served as keynote speaker at the NewCourtland Education Center on the campus of the Germantown Home. “By using private capital, the Federal Home Loan Bank makes it possible for a variety of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods to continue their progress in providing a basic human need to thousands of men, women and children across our great city.
“I want to thank our friends at FHLBank. They have left their footprint of affordable housing sites all across Philadelphia and the Second Congressional District and they are back today with more good news for our most underserved residents,” Congressman Fattah added.
Over the life of AHP, the program has contributed approximately $43 million to affordable housing projects in Greater Philadelphia. The four projects receiving funding today are:
A Place for New Directions for Women
FHLBank Member
PNC Bank
Sponsor
New Directions for Women
Total Units: 36
Total AHP Grants: $250,000
New Directions for Women will expand the supply of rental housing for women eligible for early parole from prison by providing transitional housing for 36 single, special needs individuals. The facility, to be located at 4969 Wakefield Street in the Germantown neighborhood, will be created through the rehabilitation of a vacant and dilapidated light industrial building of approximately 11,700 square-feet. This project will create 18 two-person bedrooms for these very-low-income women, whose children will be cared for by others during incarceration and while they are at New Directions. Residents will live at this transitional facility for an average of one year. Onsite services will be offered to help foster individual self-sufficiency, including training in literacy and job seeking.
Fattah Homes II
FHLBank Member
Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania
Sponsor
People’s Emergency Center Community Development Corporation
Total Units: 6
Total AHP Grants: $94,176
To be located in the 3900 block of Brandywine Street, this rental facility will provide housing for chronically homeless families through the construction of six new units in West Philadelphia. Four two-bedroom units, one three-bedroom unit and one four-bedroom unit will serve a total of six women and up to 22 children during the first year of occupancy. Through this facility, PEC will help homeless mothers recovering from substance abuse or coping with a disability that impairs self-sufficiency. PEC CDC, in collaboration with People’s Emergency Center, will oversee supportive services from its nearby headquarters.
Gaudenzia Thompson Street Apartments
FHLBank Member
Sovereign Bank
Sponsor
Gaudenzia Foundation, Inc.
Total Units: 6
Total AHP Grants: $250,000
Building upon its existing campus in the 1800 block of West Thompson Street, Gaudenzia Foundation will renovate two three-story brick masonry row homes to meet the needs of homeless families, where the female head of household is recovering from chronic substance abuse and often, a co-occurring disorder. Residents of this expansion will be graduates of the sponsor’s WINNER Program, which provides intensive residential treatment and transitional housing for women along with their children. This permanent supportive housing allows residents to continue to receive necessary support services to become self-sufficient. The two properties that Gaudenzia will renovate represent the last remaining blighted properties on the block.
Sartain Apartments
FHLBank Member
PNC Bank
Sponsor
NewCourtland Elder Services
Total Units: 35 Total
AHP Grants: $250,000
The Sartain Apartments is a 35-unit complex for seniors located in the 3000 block of West Oxford Street in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia. A former school, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. NewCourtland Elder Services acquired this complex in 2009. It is the sponsor’s intention to continue to operate the facility as affordable seniors housing and to broaden the social and medical services available to residents. The scope of work will involve enhanced energy efficiency and some deferred maintenance needed to ensure appropriate support of frail elderly residents.
“The Affordable Housing Program takes the form of gap funding, meaning that many times, our grants provide the final piece of the funding puzzle necessary to complete a project,” explained John Bendel, director of community investment for FHLBank, who served as emcee at today’s event. “Our private funds are used in combination with other funding programs such as the Low-income Housing Tax Credit, HOME and the Community Development Block Grant program to get needed housing off the ground.”
FHLBank Pittsburgh provides a steady stream of low-cost liquidity to its local member-owners in support of housing finance and community and economic development. FHLBank is privately funded and capitalized and uses no taxpayer dollars. At September 30, 2009, the Bank had 317 members across its district of Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and approximately $67 billion in assets
Contact:
">Ron Goldwyn, Congressman Fattah, 215-387-6404 or 215-913-0972;
">Neil Cotiaux, FHLBank, 412-335-9488
