Housing Investment Plan: A Historic Opportunity to Stabilize Neighborhoods
$2.27 billion plan could construct thousands of new housing units across PA
Philadelphia has seen a housing boom, but it’s a bust for our middle-and -lower income neighbors.
Working families, including the essential workers who have been bearing the brunt of the pandemic, are being priced out of their own communities by economic forces beyond their control.
At the same time, Pennsylvania is sitting on a record surplus along with billions in unused ARP funds. We have an opportunity to help our neighbors remain our neighbors.
I’m proposing the Housing Investment Plan to put $2.27 billion into affordable housing, an unprecedented investment that would fund construction of thousands of new housing units across Pennsylvania, over the next five years. Every year, builders of proposed affordable housing projects in Pennsylvania are unable to make their plans work because of a lack of investment by the state.
The Housing Investment Plan provides funding through proven, successful programs to clear the backlog of proposed projects and get construction started quickly. We know that the need for housing goes well beyond the backlog and this plan will encourage more projects that will provide more homes and ease the growing housing shortage.
Construction of new units is not the only answer to the housing crisis. The Housing Investment Plan will serve as a complement to Sen. Nikil Saval’s Whole-Home Repairs legislation, which I’m co-sponsoring.
The Whole-Home Repairs Act (Senate Bill 1135) is a bipartisan bill that creates a one-stop shop for home repairs and weatherization while building out our workforce and creating new family-sustaining jobs in a growing field. The Whole-Home Repairs Act is the first bill of its kind in the nation, making it so that Pennsylvanians can stay warm, safe, and dry in homes they can afford.
In addition to essential workers, the housing affordability crisis has created barriers for veterans, victims of domestic violence, seniors and the disabled. We have the funds and therefore we have the opportunity to protect the vulnerable, preserve communities and keep our neighbors as our neighbors.
Housing Investment Plan Details
Tax Credits
| Current Law | Proposed Increase | Total Investment |
| $10,000,000 | $115,000,000 | $125,000,000 |
- Mixed-use Development Tax Credit
| Current Law | Proposed Increase | Total Investment |
| $4,500,000 | $25,000,000 | $29,500,000 |
- TOTAL INVESTMENT OF GENERAL FUND DOLLARS IN FY 2022-23 – $154,500,000
- Total investment of new funds over 5 years – $700,000,000
- Total investment of funds over 5 years – $772,500,000
Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund (PHARE)
- Current investment (General Fund) – $40,000,000
- Proposed increase (General Fund) – $160,000,000
- Total proposed investment (General Fund) – $200,000,000
- $200,000,000 directed as follows:
- $125,000,000 – New Unit Construction/Existing Unit Preservation
- $25,000,000 – Renter/Landlord Assistance
- $50,000,000 – Existing Programs
- American Rescue Plan (ARP) investment – $500,000,000
- $450,000,000 – PHARE for New Unit Construction/Existing Unit Preservation
- $50,000,000 – Recapitalization of the PHFA Construction Cost Relief Program
- TOTAL INVESTMENT OF GENERAL FUND AND ARP DOLLARS IN FY 2022-23 – $700,000,000
- Total Investment of new funds over 5 years – $1,300,000,000
- Total investment of funds over 5 years – $1,500,000,000
- $200,000,000 directed as follows:
Tax Credits
| Current Law | Proposed Increase | Total Investment |
| $10,000,000 | $115,000,000 | $125,000,000 |
- Mixed-use Development Tax Credit
| Current Law | Proposed Increase | Total Investment |
| $4,500,000 | $25,000,000 | $29,500,000 |
- TOTAL INVESTMENT OF GENERAL FUND DOLLARS IN FY 2022-23 – $154,500,000
- Total investment of new funds over 5 years – $700,000,000
- Total investment of funds over 5 years – $772,500,000
Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund (PHARE)
- Current investment (General Fund) – $40,000,000
- Proposed increase (General Fund) – $160,000,000
- Total proposed investment (General Fund) – $200,000,000
- $200,000,000 directed as follows:
- $125,000,000 – new unit construction/existing unit renovation
- $25,000,000 – renters assistance
- $50,000,000 – discretionary dollars
- American Rescue Plan (ARP) investment – $500,000,000
- $450,000,000 – PHARE
- $50,000,000 – recapitalization of the PHFA Construction Cost Relief Program
- TOTAL INVESTMENT OF GENERAL FUND AND ARP DOLLARS IN FY 2022-23 – $700,000,000
- Total Investment of new funds over 5 years – $1,300,000,000
- Total investment of funds over 5 years – $1,500,000,000
- $200,000,000 directed as follows:
Senator Hughes Announces Housing Investment Plan
Resources on the Housing Crisis Facing our Neighbors
Overall, home prices in the Philadelphia region rose more than 50 percent over ten years from 2011 to 2021.
The median home price in Philadelphia is now roughly $225,000. It was roughly $170,000 three or four years ago.
The analysis, released earlier this month, also posits that access to mortgage loans and the ongoing impact of redlining have contributed to persistent racial disparities in homeownership rates, to the detriment of the entire city.
The analysis, released earlier this month, also posits that access to mortgage loans and the ongoing impact of redlining have contributed to persistent racial disparities in homeownership rates, to the detriment of the entire city.
Across Pennsylvania the median housing prices jumped 14 percent 2020 to 2021, from $168,152 to $192,040.
Researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia recently cited the gap between home prices and incomes to help explain another one: the widening homeownership gap between Black and white Philadelphians.
Over the last 20 years, the median home value in Philadelphia jumped from 2½ times to five times the median income of Black households.
More Housing Crisis Resources
