Affordable Housing Comes to North Philly

by Amy L. Webb

A local advocacy group is breaking ground on a new affordable housing project in eastern North Philadelphia.

The Women's Community Revitalization Project (WCRP), a nonprofit group that serves low-income women and their families, will begin construction on the Karen Donnally Townhouses on March 19. The new homes will be constructed to resemble existing brick rowhouses around Fourth and Diamond streets and will be built on lots that had been vacant.

The Donnally homes are the latest project for the WCRP, which won national recognition last winter for its efforts to bring affordable housing to low-income families.

"We've created new, permanent rental housing," says Dana Hanchin, WCRP real estate and development coordinator. "We worked with a housing committee made up of neighbors and builders to make more affordable housing available for the city."

Plans for the Donnally homes include 32 units in 11 new two- and three-story townhouses. Six of the units will be wheelchair accessible. Each unit will feature a full kitchen and washer-and-dryer area in the rear, with a window overlooking a porch and small yard so that parents can watch their children as they do housework.

The WCRP also plans to construct a play area for children, which will include a basketball half-court.

The project, which is being funded by both the state low-income housing tax credit program and federal block grant money, will cost $7 million to complete. Hanchin says the units will be available to rent in April 2005.

Rent will vary with each family but will not cost greater than 30 percent of the total family income.

In Philadelphia, one out of three households lives on less than $20,000 a year and more than 100,000 households spend more than 50 percent of their monthly income on housing, according to figures from WCRP.

"We're trying to solve Philadelphia's affordable-housing crisis," Hanchin says. "With these new townhouses, we're making a small dent in the problem. But for the people who will eventually move in to the homes, we're making a big step in their lives."

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there