(Philadelphia, PA - May 04, 2016) - The Philadelphia Housing
Authority has been recognized with an
The Middle Atlantic Regional Council of the
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Organizations
(MARC-NAHRO) has recognized the Oakdale Street Apartments in the
historic Strawberry Mansion neighborhood with an Outstanding
Achievement award for project design.
Outstanding Achievement award for project design at the Oakdale
Street Apartments in the historic Strawberry Mansion neighborhood.
The award from the Middle Atlantic Regional Council of the National
Association of Housing and Redevelopment Organizations (MARC NAHRO)
acknowledges and touts the work that PHA has done.
"It's great to know that our peers believe that we are producing
a first-class product," said Kelvin Jeremiah, PHA President and
CEO. "PHA has shown time and again that it will go the extra mile
to produce quality affordable housing."
The Oakdale Street Apartments have previously received
recognition from the Pennsylvania Association of Housing and
Redevelopment Agencies (PAHRA) for design and 10,000 Friends of
Pennsylvania for affordable housing which advances community
development initiatives, positively impacting low-income
households.
The development demonstrates what is possible throughout the
neighborhood in a very limited space. Oakdale Street Apartments
also meet accessibility standards. Without the economies of scale,
in this case developing only 12 homes, PHA found a way to finance a
high-quality, energy efficient, sustainable, small scale affordable
housing development in the community.
The financing of the development broke new ground for the agency.
Construction of the new units was partially funded using project
based vouchers (PBV) from PHA's Housing Choice Voucher Program.
This approach was the agency's first attempt to build and manage
PBV units.
Typically, PHA awards these subsidies to non-profit housing
providers.
In anticipation of HUD's new Rental Assistance Demonstration
Program (RAD), where housing authorities can convert traditional
public housing to project based voucher units, PHA wanted to test
on a small scale using this method of financing in the development
and operation of new homes. When fully implemented, RAD will allow
PHA to leverage private funds to complete approximately $100
million in improvements, preserving affordable housing for
approximately 3,000 families for the next 40 years.