The Northside Coalition for Fair Housing (NCFH) is a tenant organization representing over 300 households living in a project-based Section 8 development scattered among four neighborhoods on Pittsburgh’s North Side. RHLS has represented NCFH since its inception in 1998, when NCFH’s residents were in jeopardy of being evicted en masse after their development, North Side Properties, reached the end of its Section 8 subsidy contract with HUD. NCFH saw the struggle to save their housing as part of a larger struggle to maintain racial and economic diversity in Central Northside and surrounding neighborhoods.
RHLS helped NCFH avoid the evictions by negotiating a resolution with HUD and the owner of North Side Properties. We also helped NCFH incorporate, prepare bylaws and obtain 501(c)(3) status; provided guidance on fiscal and procurement issues; provided training on development issues and on state and federal housing programs; and provided legal support in connection with NCFH’s housing and community development activities (including Northside Coalition Senior Housing, 25 units of affordable, service-enriched senior housing developed in partnership with ACTION-Housing). In 2007, we helped NCFH acquire a majority of the investor limited partner shares in the company that owns North Side Properties. As a result, NCFH’s approval is now required for any sale of the properties or change in their affordability, they now receive annual distributions of cash flow that they are reinvesting in the properties and in the neighborhood, and they have transitioned from an all-volunteer staff to an organization with 6 employees. Since that time, we have helped NCFH acquire the building in which their offices are located and we provide ongoing legal support for their community planning, development and advocacy efforts.
For more information on this project, contact Bob Damewood.