(The Center Square) – Federal home improvement grants worth $5.3 million went out this week to eight counties in Pennsylvania’s rural northern tier.
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program, managed by the Department of Community and Economic Development, allocates grants to local municipalities to increase and improve the availability of low-income housing. The funds can be used to construct and repair both rental and owner-occupied housing.
“This HOME funding builds on Governor Shapiro’s new Housing Action Plan by supporting safe, affordable housing while also revitalizing neighborhoods across Pennsylvania,” said Rick Siger, the department’s secretary.
HOME is a federally funded program and all grants this year will improve owner-occupied properties. The largest awards were given to Venango County and the City of Newcastle to rehabilitate six and 15 homes respectively.
The funding follows the October launch of the department’s PA Mixed-Use Housing Development Program, which aims to increase the development of spaces with dual economic and housing purposes. The $10 million initiative funded through the PA SITES program will continue to receive applicants through the end of the week.
Both projects reflect the broader mission of the Shapiro administration’s Economic Development Strategy, for which the governor has signed a flurry of executive orders. In September, he signed 2024-03, which directed his administration to create a Housing Action Plan.
The plan is expected to address the rising homelessness and housing costs while increasing homeownership across the state, goals for which both DCED and the Department of Human Services have also been tapped.
“By unifying our efforts, we’ll ensure that all our housing investments can accomplish the most good,” said Robin Weissman, CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, of the collaboration.
In the past, silos of state agencies have sometimes left a disconnect between the economic factors contributing to problems like homelessness and the downstream effects of the problems in areas like education and health care.
“Every Pennsylvanian should have safe, well-maintained places to live – the kind of homes that strengthen our communities and our economy,” Siger said.
The twofold vision of providing housing and strengthening the economy has, at times, been at odds with the state’s laborious regulatory processes, another major target for the governor.
The Office of Transformation and Opportunity was created by executive order in 2023 to oversee the execution of the governor’s economic strategy. This month, Shapiro signed an executive order to streamline and improve developer permitting processes.
While support for the orders extends across the aisle, critics outside of the capitol say officials should focus on slashing regulations rather than tax breaks for companies and piecemeal permitting reform.
In a recent op-ed, Elizabeth Stelle, a policy analyst for the conservative research nonprofit Commonwealth Foundation, said the “corporate welfare” doesn’t work because the underlying regulatory environment drives investors away as the state is slow to adopt sweeping changes.
