Philadelphia seeks $60 million bond issue to preserve existing affordable homes and improve residents' health. City seeks to offer city loan guarantee to embolden lenders to extend credit to homeowners with lower credit scores.
Philadelphia Council President Clarke and Mayor Jim Kenney will join the Healthy Rowhouse Project "in announcing their intention to launch a home repair loan program next summer, creating for the first time a renewable income source to help poor residents fix their houses," reports Roxanne Patel Shepelavy.
"The loan program—up to $34,000, at low-interest—will be a radically new approach to affordable housing in the city, and one of only a few like it around the country. The goal is to preserve 'naturally-occurring affordable housing'—that is, housing that is affordable without any government subsidy."
Read the full story: THE CITIZEN UPDATES: HEALTHY ROWHOUSE PROJECT
Philadelphia Loan Program Supports Home Repair
Philadelphia preserves affordable housing by investing $40 million into a new Housing Preservation Loan Program that will provide low interest loans of as much as $25,000 to fix up aging homes.
The Philadelphia Loan Program Transforming the Demographics of Development
The Jumpstart loan program is helping Black and female residents become developers.
Rowhouses Have an Ally in Philadelphia
An important source of housing affordable to wide ranges of incomes has a new, well-funded ally in Philadelphia—the Healthy Rowhouse Project is hoping to make a big impact in 2016.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
NYC DOT wants faster, more permanent street upgrades
The city is examining ways to build more concrete infrastructure without getting entangled in 'decades-long' projects.
'Something we’ve never seen before:' rising utility rates could strain city finances nationwide
Data centers, climate change and other factors have caused utility rates in the United States to increase by 38% since 2020.
Trump to overrule local leaders, lease millions of acres of America’s Pacific Island territories’ seafloors to mining companies
International law says that the Indigenous people of America’s territories have a right to prior and informed consent regarding projects that impact their countries.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello