A new state program provides forgivable loans for residential repairs and retrofits to landlords who don’t raise rents by more than 3 percent.

A new Pennsylvania state law aims to encourage property owners to repair and retrofit aging homes and buildings and simultaneously keep rents affordable for tenants. As Roshan Abraham explains in Next City, “The Whole Home Repair Act sets aside $125 million for grants to low and middle-income homeowners and forgivable loans for small landlords to repair or retrofit homes, along with money for staff and workforce development for three years.”
The program also bars landlords from raising rents by more than 3 percent annually to qualify for loan forgiveness. “In addition to the 3% limit on rent increases, small landlords who want their loans forgiven must offer a three-year lease renewal to tenants living in the unit receiving the repairs.” Low- and middle-income homeowners can access forgivable loans for repairs that many of them couldn’t afford to make otherwise.
Proponents of the law say that despite not being aimed at new construction, the legislation could still help alleviate the state’s housing shortage by keeping older units habitable and preventing them from becoming abandoned, but due to the scale of the need, the program is “not expected to meet the outstanding need for repair among Pennsylvania’s homes.”
FULL STORY: A Pennsylvania Program Will Provide Free Repairs – So Long As Landlords Don’t Hike Rents

The Slow Death of Ride Sharing
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Cool Walkability Planning
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Congestion Pricing Could Be Coming to L.A.
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Illinois Legislators Pass Controversial I-55 Road Expansion Legislation
Legislation to enable the addition of express toll lanes on Interstate 55 in the Southwest Side of Chicago, opposed by environmental justice advocates, cleared the Illinois General Assembly last month.

What Is ‘Arterial Rapid Transit?’
Atlanta is planning to build ‘BRT lite,’ a version of bus service that offers signal priority and fewer stops but keeps buses in mixed-traffic lanes.

Vermont Latest State to Preempt Single-Family Zoning
The approval of the HOME law, S.100, will allow for duplexes in all residential neighborhoods in Vermont. Large swaths of residential zones in the state must also now allow tri- and four-plexes.
Caltrans
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
City of Orange
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Montrose County
Wichita-Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Department
City of Lomita
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