Morning Headlines: Philadelphia Could Get Grant for Neighborhood Revitalization

The grant could speed along PHA's North Central plans.

Early rendering of Norris Apartments in North Philadelphia.
Photo credit: Butz Enterprises Inc.

Philadelphia is one of six finalists in the application for the “Choice Neighborhood” grant, a financial program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Should the city get the $30 million award for the use of neighborhood revitalization, it would incorporate it into the North Central plan.

According to the Inquirer’s Jennifer Lin, receiving the grant would give the Philadelphia Housing Authority permission to be at the forefront of a coalition tasked with redeveloping a neighborhood east of Temple’s campus (one that has been grappling with “the pressure of gentrification”).

From the Inquirer:

The centerpiece of the so-called North Central Philadelphia plan would be taking down PHA’s barrack-style Norris Apartments and building 297 units of affordable and market-rate housing throughout the neighborhood.

On the site of the Norris Apartments, PHA would develop a mixed-income rental apartment complex, mirroring the Paseo Verde complex on the eastern side of the SEPTA viaduct.

The “barrack-style Norris Apartments” sits in a section of the city grappling with the negative effects of gentrification.

Whether or not the city is awarded the grant, plans for the North Central project would continue regardless, albeit at a much slower pace. Sponsors of the plan include PHA, the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the Asociacion de Puertorriquenos en Marcha, and Temple University.

Philly in running for neighborhood improvement grant [Inquirer]

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