Did You Hear about Governor Shapiro’s Housing Action Plan?
On Thursday September 12, Housing Alliance of PA Executive Director Phyllis Chamberlain joined State Senators and Representatives, Members of Philadelphia City Council, local government, housing developers and service providers to witness Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro sign an Executive Order directing the PA Department of Community and Economic Development and PA Department of Human Services to create a plan to address the housing shortage and homelessness.
The Housing Alliance applauds this first-of-its-kind step taken by a Pennsylvania Governor to address housing and homelessness. The task before these Departments is to recommend ideas and investments that will successfully close the gap on these two critical issues.
We urge swift, tangible, and measurable actions and the substantive engagement of those that are delivering programs on the ground across the state and those that have lived the problem directly. Policy is too often created without these two groups and policy is best designed centering their experiences. In addition, the Housing Alliance has been directly engaging private market landlords who are too often also not considered when designing programs to assist low income households access affordable rental housing.
Among the Administration’s priorities has been the effort to increase funding for PHARE which, in the last budget, will increase by $10 million per year until it reaches $100 million by FY27.
To address homelessness, HAP has been working toward a proposal that would create a grant program to fund local homelessness prevention programs that mirror the most successful programs already in existence across the state. These programs combine mediation, legal aid, resource navigation and direct assistance to prevent evictions which are a leading cause of homelessness.
We look forward to partnering with the Administration to create a plan for a comprehensive strategy to make a home within reach for all Pennsylvanians.
Photo Credit: Department of Community and Economic Development