Social Issues: “There Is An Affordable Housing Crisis That Confronts The City In Some Real Ways.”
Kelvin Jeremiah, the president and CEO of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, has brought unique ideas from previous stops in Springfield, Massachusetts and New York City to help develop better living conditions for some of Philadelphia’s low-income citizens. How did you get started with the Philadelphia Housing Authority? So I came to the PHA about […]
Strawberry Mansion: Community Group Ensures Developers Listen to Residents
Inside the first floor of a row home on 28th and Diamond streets sits the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corp. (SMCDC) Splashed across the orange and cream walls are newspaper clippings and building plans. Papers fly in and out of the copy machine as people move swiftly about. This group of residents, according to SMCDC president […]
Poverty Beat: Philly’s Abandoned Lots Leave Residents Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Although Philadelphia experienced population growth for the first time in decades according to the Census, neighborhoods are still struggling with disinvestment that left pockets of people throughout the city neglected and unable to develop. Philadelphia was once a major industrial center for textiles and locomotives. The deindustrialization of America’s manufacturing industry cost the cities like […]
Poverty Beat: Five Housing Redevelopment Plans Happening Now
Building and maintaining affordable housing urban centers like Philadelphia is complex. Forces like urban blight and gentrification make development difficult but essential. For Philadelphia’s most socio-economic vulnerable residents housing redevelopment plans mean the difference between having a community and being homeless . Here are five housing redevelopment plans in action across Philadelphia now. JBJ Soul Homes – […]
Poverty Beat: A Community Defying the Odds on Jefferson Street
It is summer in Brewerytown and the sound of children playing coalesces with the screeches of police sirens from the 2400 block of Jefferson Street. Home to more than a thousand residents life on this Brewerytown block is deeply affected by the impact of urban blight. According to the 2010 Census, more than half of […]
Grays Ferry: Lawn Maintenance Causes Community Dispute
Everyone loves a freshly-manicured lawn. Cutting it, however, can be problematic if you live in Greater Grays Ferry Estates. Neighbors are pitted against one another in a dispute over who should cut the grass in the suburban-style housing complex. Trisayra Ortiz moved into GGFE in 2006. In the beginning, she paid the homeowners association monthly […]
Northwest: Queen Lane Apartments Inching Along
Plans to revamp the Queen Lane Apartments, vacant since 2011, are making progress after a series of setbacks slowed the project. According to the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s website, an archaeological survey of the site concluded last May after it was discovered the high-rise was partially built atop a burial place for unknown and indignant people dating back […]
City Hall: PHA Receives Grant to Plan Revitalization of Area Around Blumberg Apartments
The Philadelphia Housing Authority announced last month that it will receive a $500,000 grant to plan redevelopment at the Norman Blumberg Apartments in North Philadelphia. The grant was part of $4.37 million that was awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the form of Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants to nine cities. […]
Mantua: A New Approach to Affordable Housing
The homes come with solar panels and energy efficient appliances. Some are equipped with elevators for the disabled. The center of the complex, which occupies an entire block, is gated parking and a small park. Store fronts will open on one side of the complex. This isn’t the newest big-time suburban development, though, this is […]
West Philadelphia: Housing Authority Makes $4 Million on Second Property Auction
The Philadelphia Housing Authority sold 100 properties and brought in more than $4 million at this week’s vacant property auction with both positive and negative reaction to the sales. In November, PHA held its first vacant property auction, which sold 400 vacant properties and brought in $7 million. The auctions are part of PHA’s attempt […]