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.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Chicago voters approve permanent festival grounds, penalty for vacant property owners
Currently, major summer and fall festivals take over public parks for weeks at a time, drawing criticism from nearby residents
NYC votes to cut outdoor dining red tape, speed up permitting
New York City also voted to allow the Department of Transportation to begin work on urgent projects before notifying elected officials.
California appears to reject Prop. 45
The proposition would have expanded the projects that qualify for a streamlined environmental review, effectively paring down the California Environmental Quality Act.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority