PITTSBURGH, PA (August 10, 2020) The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Board of Directors will be voting to approve investing $4,051,475 in community-based affordable housing projects in Marshall-Shadeland, Hazelwood, Fineview and more at their regular board meeting this Thursday.
Funded through the Housing Opportunity Fund, a citywide initiative that provides $10 million a year for affordable housing programs, and other URA programs, many of the selected projects are run by neighborhood community development groups who are working to fix up homes in their neighborhood to sell at an affordable rate.
“We are pleased to see this level of consistent investment from the URA and Housing Opportunity Fund. This kind of funding puts our communities in the driver seat of development and helps to ensure that their neighbors can stay in their neighborhood,” Mayor William Peduto said. “A great thanks goes to the URA board, URA and HOF staff and our community partners.”
The proposed financing includes, but is not limited to:
- 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 URA Board Meeting will be this Thursday. August 13 online at 2 PM. More information can be found here.
