News Release - Congressman Chaka Fattah - Second District, Pennsylvania
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday August 16, 2006
CONTACT: Ron Goldwyn
215-387-6404 or 215-913-0972
 
Congressman Fattah Announces $3 Million In Federal Home Loan Bank Grants
 
Housing grants for Philadelphia now total nearly $30 million
 

PHILADELPHIA PA, August 16, 2006 – Congressman Chaka Fattah today joined with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, community leaders and local bank officials to announce $3 million in major new grants for affordable housing in the Philadelphia region.

The grants, provided through five local banks, will fund 230 housing units for low income families, elderly, and those with special needs. Six of the projects are in Philadelphia, one in Chester, Pa., and one in Lindenwold, N.J. 

The affording housing program has now released $29.8 million for Philadelphia.

"These grants bring the total for Philadelphia to more than 150 projects and 4,700 units of affordable housing since this program began,” said Congressman Fattah, featured speaker at the ceremony and a member of the VA-HUD Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

“I’m proud of the partnership between the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and the Fattah congressional office for the role we have played in revitalizing neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia and the region,” he said.

“Walk almost any neighborhood in Philadelphia and see the proof,” Fattah said. “These housing programs have been a critical linchpin to provide affordable housing for low-income families, for the elderly and for those with special needs.”

The grants were announced at a news conference and ceremony at Saunders Park in West Philadelphia, adjacent to The People’s Emergency Center at Rowan House, 325 N. 39th Street.

The Rev. Luis Cortes, President of Esperanza USA, and Bernadine Hawes, chair of People’s Emergency Center’s Community Development Corp., one of the grant recipients, joined John J. Bendel of the FHL Bank, Pittsburgh, along with officials of the five cooperating banks and the eight community and nonprofit organizations that will receive the funds.

The 230 units of affordable housing will benefit low- and very-low-income individuals and families including young homeless mothers and their children, men and women who are recovering from alcohol and drug addiction, the physically handicapped, those suffering from mental illness and seniors, including frail elderly. Here are the six Philadelphia programs, all located in the 2nd Congressional District:

  • $70,000 for six rental units along with supportive services for teen mothers and their children at Bernice Elza Homes at 38th and Brandywine streets, sponsored by PEC Community Development Corporation.
  • $350,000 to renovate ten rental units in adjoining three-story houses at Gaudenzia New Hope on West Tioga Street, sponsored by Gaudenzia Foundation and Sherick Project Management.
  • $105,000 for Mantua I Supported Independent Living for ten one-bedroom rental units for very-low-income individuals, including the physically handicapped and the homeless, sponsored by 1260 Housing Development Corp.
  • $369,722 for 24 units serving homeless adult men recovering from drug- and alcohol-related addictions and offering services to veterans, at St. Elizabeth’s Recovery Residence on North Croskey Street in North Central Philadelphia, sponsored by Project H.O.M.E.
  • $150,000 to rehabilitate eleven vacant properties in North Philadelphia into ten new homes for very-low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers as part of Allegheny West Foundation’s Forgotten Blocks redevelopment plan, sponsored by Allegheny West Foundation.
  • $260,000 for 48 rental units in West Powelton Village to be built on vacant land along Warren Street, serving homeless and non-homeless individuals with serious mental illness, physical disabilities, plus 12 units for general occupancy by those with very-low-income residents, sponsored by 1260 Housing Development Corporation, through Firstrust Bank.

In addition, the grants will provide $450,000 for 30 semi-detached single-family homes for moderate-income first-time homebuyers in the Wellington Heights neighborhood of Chester, Pa., sponsored by the Chester Redevelopment Authority; and $1.35 million for the 92-unit Harvest Senior Housing apartment building in Lindenwold, NJ, on the Abundant Harvest Ministries campus for very-low-income seniors. 

FHLBank, functioning as a wholesale private “banker’s bank” for government-sponsored housing programs, provides grants and low-cost funding for affordable housing and community development to the members of its private cooperative. Since 1990, the Bank has awarded more than $118 million in Affordable Housing Program funds, creating approximately 21,000 units of affordable housing for purchase or rental, across its three-state region. 

Participating in today’s grant awards are Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, Commerce Bank, Firstrust Bank, PNC Bank and Sovereign Bank. Commerce Bank also received FHLBank’s 2006 Pillars of the Community Award.

 
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Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) • www.house.gov/fattah
2301 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 • 4104 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (202) 225-4001 • (215) 387-6404
 
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