Last week, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia issued its report, Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in the Third Federal Reserve District: 2015.
The findings were a huge wake up call. Our region is facing a significant shortage of affordable rental housing, specifically for extremely low-income renters and very low-income renters.
The imperative to create new resources for developers of affordable housing is great. At Regional Housing Legal Services (RHLS), our staff works tirelessly on local, state, and national levels to craft innovative policy solutions that can address the barriers that developers face to serving the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians and provides legal support to nonprofit organizations developing affordable housing in Pennsylvania.
Check out some of the links below to learn more about how RHLS is working to solve some of the issues raised in the report:
- RHLS advocated on behalf of stakeholders around the state of Pennsylvania to change the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s Qualified Allocation Plan, which reflects that state’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Funding priorities. These changes will facilitate the development of housing for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable, working to address the significant shortage of housing for extremely and very low-income renters as identified in the report.
- RHLS works to create additional resources for those who serve youth aging out of foster care, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and individuals facing physical and mental disabilities- populations often disproportionately represented in the extremely and very low-income categories.
Our dedicated staff and community partners will continue to work to provide affordable and stable housing for those who need it most in our state.