A state agency is showering about $7.4 million on Central Pennsylvania developers and nonprofits aiming to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing and combat homelessness.
The grants announced this month by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency range in size locally from less than $50,000 to an award of $500,000, which is being given to a construction company involved in renovating the former Ronald Reagan federal office building in downtown Harrisburg.
The grant to Wormleysburg-based Steel Works Construction is supporting creation of 10 affordable rental units in the 11-story building at 228 Walnut St., which is slated to be carved into 162 units overall.
The project has been approved by the city, said Jonathan Bowser, owner, president and CEO of Steel Works.
The building’s New Jersey-based owner, developer Yasser Hellel, is currently working to secure financing for the project, estimated to cost at least $25 million, Bowser said.
“This does definitely help,” he said of the PHFA grant.
The affordable portion of the project also received a $150,000 grant from a Dauphin County housing fund, Bowser said, adding that construction could start later this year or the first quarter of next.
The rest: Other funding recipients in the region include:
York Area Development Corp., which does business as Affordable Housing Advocates. It is receiving $400,000 to buy vacant lots in York City and create opportunities for affordable homeownership, according to PHFA.
Tri-County HDC, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit. It is receiving $400,000 toward its New Cumberland Homeownership Project, which entails construction of a new duplex on Eutaw Avenue in the borough.
YWCA Lancaster. It is receiving $350,000 toward its YForward project to build affordable-housing units.
Vice Capital, a development firm chaired by former NFL star and Harrisburg native LeSean McCoy. It received $250,000 toward the cost of a 48-unit mixed-use development called Savoy 48 at the corner of North 6th and Harris streets in Harrisburg, near the new federal courthouse. Nine of the building’s units will be designated as affordable, according to PHFA.
Full lists of grantees are available here and here.
What’s the source: The grants are from the Pennsylvania Housing and Rehabilitation Enhancement, or PHARE, Fund, often referred to as the state’s housing trust fund.
The fund draws money from Pennsylvania’s realty transfer tax and state taxes imposed on natural gas drilling.
For the current fiscal year, the fund is doling out $64.8 million statewide for 322 housing initiatives.
About two-thirds of the funding is going toward projects benefiting households with incomes below 50% of their area’s median income, affording to PHFA.
The trend: The shortage of affordable housing in Central Pennsylvania and across the state is reaching what some describe as a crisis.